Fairy Tail: Post Game
by Talespinner69
Summary: Team Natsu returns to the Fairy Tail guild hall after finishing their hundred-year quest waaaay sooner than expected. Things then happen. (Set after the last chapter of the manga, so if you aren't caught up fully, beware of spoilers.)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter one: Magnolia Town's mayoral elections- Levy McGarden vs. Duke Everlue

It was a well enough day in the Fiore city of Magnolia Town, in the year X793. The mages of the mage guild Fairy Tail were milling about the main room of the guild hall as per normal. Over at one of the tables, guild members and friends Jet and Droy were talking to Alzack and Bisca Connell. "…Seriously, Alzack," Droy remarked in a tone that clearly conveyed jealousy, "How did you get back into shape so easily?"

"Well after me and Bisca's daughter said that I looked like Santa Claus, I sort of got the idea," Alzack remarked casually. After taking a sip of his drink, Alzack continued in a somewhat sheepish tone, "It wasn't all that much, though."

"Sorry, dear," Bisca remarked, "I didn't know it was that sensitive of an issue for you." Giving her husband a serious look that conveyed approval, Bisca continued, "Although I do have to admit that you made a spectacular turn around." Jerking a thumb at Jet and Droy, Bisca said to Alzack, "Show them your abs, dear."

Doing as his wife asked, Alzack stood up and lifted his shirt and poncho up, revealing chiseled six-pack abs. "…My word, you could grate meat on those," Jet remarked, clearly impressed with Alzack's newfound abs.

"…I hate you," Droy said in a mildly bitter tone as Alzack let his shirt and poncho back down before he sat back down.

"Well maybe you should look into losing some weight yourself," Alzack remarked to Droy, prompting the well-fed member of team Shadow Gear to slump in shame.

"Well in his defense," Jet began as he spoke to Alzack and Bisca, "The rest of us aren't exactly helping Droy feel encouraged. I mean, you two tease him about his weight, I've teased Droy about his weight, Levy's teased him about his weight a few times, and this is saying nothing about how brutally Gajeel's torn into Droy with the fat jokes."

"Fun fact," Droy said with a hint of defeat in his tone, "Pantherlily is the one who comes up with most of Gajeel's jokes that he uses to mock my weight."

"Well I-" Alzack began, but he was cut off when the front doors of the guild hall were thrown open, getting the attention of everyone currently in the guild hall. Everyone saw that a group of people were walking into the guild hall, but it was _who_ was walking into the guild hall that had everyone surprised.

Natsu Dragneel. Gray Fullbuster. Erza Scarlet. Lucy Heartfilia. Wendy Marvell. Happy. Carla. The entirety of who many considered to be the strongest team that the Fairy Tail guild had to offer. Pumping both of his fists into the air, Natsu exclaimed in a clearly joyous tone, "Guess who's back, everyone!"

"You guys!" Bisca exclaimed in surprise as she and the others sitting at the table with her got up to head over and greet the returned team, "We thought that we'd never see you again, given that you all went on that hundred-year quest!"

"Hundred-year quest?" Erza repeated in a questioning tone. Pulling out a rather large sack that looked to contain something, Erza tossed it onto the floor, which made the sack make a noise suggesting that it was absolutely chock-full of jewel, both coin and paper form, the currency of Fiore. "More like two-month quest," Erza continued, "Seriously. Whoever sent that quest request to the guild must have _severely_ overestimated the difficulty of the quest."

"That," Jet began, "Or, given what you guys are capable of, you were able to complete a hundred-year quest in about two months."

"Oh, Jet and Droy!" Lucy began as she turned her focus on the boys of team Shadow Gear, "I don't suppose you guys can tell me where Levy is, could you?"

"Oh, she took Gajeel and Pantherlily with her on a quest," Bisca said in place of Jet and Droy.

"Ooh," Lucy began in a knowing tone, "Levy took Gajeel with her on a quest? What are they doing, might I ask?"

With an indifferent shrug, Bisca said, "All I know is that the person who sent the request to the guild said something about wanting to stop a local religious group from carrying out a bunch of book burnings." With a gentle shake of her head, Bisca continued, "I have no idea when Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily will be get-" At that moment, Bisca was cut off when the doors to the guild hall opened, prompting everyone to turn and see Levy McGarden and Gajeel Redfox walk into the guild hall; Pantherlily, in his chibi form, was flying in after Gajeel.

"Was killing all of the book burners really all that necessary?" Pantherlily asked in a tone that was somewhat casual but mostly confused.

"Yes," Levy replied in a confident tone, "Yes, it was. Besides, the client did say that we could do whatever we want to get the book burners to stop, so long as we got them to stop."

"I'm still surprised that you have a spell like that, Shorty," Gajeel remarked, his tone sounding a mix of mostly impressed but a little alarmed, "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Levy!" Lucy called out upon seeing her best friend return. Hearing someone call out for her, Levy looked over, and eventually spotted Lucy.

"Lu-chan!" Levy called back as she and Lucy ran up to each other, threw their arms around each other, and spun around a bit as they hugged. As the two girls hugged each other, Gajeel and Pantherlily came walking up.

"…I don't have to hug Salamander like that, do I?" Gajeel asked.

"Yeah no," Natsu remarked to his fellow Dragon Slayer, "That won't be necessary, Gajeel."

"Wait a minute," Gajeel began, "Weren't you guys supposed to be gone forever on some hundred-year quest?"

"The client must have severely overestimated the severity of the request that he sent us," Erza explained, "As such, the others and I were able to complete the quote unquote 'hundred-year quest' in about two months."

After he looked at Erza and her teammates for a few seconds, Gajeel gave an indifferent shrug. "Meh," Gajeel remarked, "Not all that surprising, given what you guys are capable of."

And so, Natsu and his team, with their friends along with them, settled back into the life of being a Fairy Tail mage. "Oh, I wish I was here when you accepted that quest to stop the book burners," Lucy said to Levy as everyone hung out, "I totally would have been glad to back you up on that one."

* * *

A few days later, Natsu, Gray, Happy, Gajeel, Pantherlily, Wendy, Carla, Alzack, Bisca, Jet and Droy all sat around as they listened to Erza tell a story of a job that she went on some time ago. "And so," Erza said as she was wrapping up her story, "With a mix of some minor illusion magic that I know, combined with my _SUPERIOR ACTING SKILLS_ , I was able to trick that pirate into thinking that he killed me." After taking a sip from her mug of whatever she was drinking, Erza said, "With the seventeenth time that I faked my death out of the way, I was able to accomplish my _true_ objective, which was-"

"This is terrible!" Lucy's voice exclaimed as the Celestial Spirit mage barged into the guild hall, holding a rolled-up newspaper.

"Hmm?" Natsu said as he looked over, "What's wrong, Lucy?" In response to Natsu's question, Lucy slammed the newspaper she was carrying down onto the table at which everyone sat, then unrolled it.

Pointing to a front-page article, Lucy said, "This is what's wrong, Natsu! Duke Everlue is running for mayor of Magnolia Town!"

"Who?" Natsu asked, a clearly confused look on the Fire Dragon Slayer's face.

"You don't remember?" Lucy asked, "Come on, Natsu! Duke Everlue was the man we had to deal with on the very first job that we went on! Everlue was that fat, ugly, conceited corrupt politician that kidnapped Kemu Zaleon so that he could force him to write that book to inflate his ego! Everlue is the worst!"

"I…still don't know what you're talking about," Natsu admitted, sounding a bit embarrassed.

Sighing in a resigned and knowing tone, Lucy put her hands together to make a ninja hand sign while saying, "Nin-nin."

"Oh!" Natsu said in a tone that conveyed that he suddenly remembered everything that Lucy was talking about, " _Now_ I remember what you're talking about!"

"Wait a minute," Gray began in a mildly confused tone, "Wasn't Everlue supposed to be in jail or something like that?"

"He got out, Gray," Lucy explained, "And now he's trying to reestablish a political career for himself."

"So, what can we do about it?" Happy asked.

"How about a member of Fairy Tail run for mayor against Everlue?" Bisca suggested.

"…One of us?" Erza remarked as she and the others all turned to face Bisca.

"I mean, think about it," Bisca began to explain, "In order to qualify as a possible canidate to be Magnolia Town's mayor, all one has to have is to be a natural born citizen of Fiore, along with having lived in Magnolia Town for at least ten years and be at least eighteen years of age." Gesturing to the guild hall around her and the others, Bisca said, "That covers pretty much most of the members of Fairy Tail, even those who were gone for seven years."

"That…is actually a very good point," Erza remarked as she considered what Bisca said, "Alright, one of us here in Fairy Tail will run for the position of Mayor of Magnolia Town against Duke Everlue. All we need to do now is figure out who to get to do that."

"Our choice of person to run against Everlue will have to be very knowledgeable, as dumb politicians tend to make things crash and burn into the ground very fast," Alzack remarked, "Our choice will also have to be visually appealing as well, as a lot of people tend to be swayed to the side of a pretty face that's running against someone's who's butt-ugly."

"Heh," Gajeel chuckled in a self-amused tone, "I guess that with both of those requirements, Salamander is automatically disqualified, then."

"Screw you, Gajeel!" Natsu snapped angrily at the Iron Dragon Slayer.

As everyone considered who Fairy Tail could use as a canidate to run against Duke Everlue, Lucy said, "Aha! I got it! I know someone who's both smart and pretty!"

"Now's not the time to be delusional about yourself, Lucy," Gray remarked.

"I'll get you back for that later, Gray," Lucy said in a mildly annoyed tone, "And for your information, I wasn't thinking about myself." Pointing dramatically at the group as a whole, Lucy declared, "I say we should get Levy elected as mayor!"

"Why Levy?" Natsu asked in a mildly curious tone.

"Think about it," Lucy began, "Levy has got to be the smartest member of Fairy Tail, not to mention the fact that she's absolutely adorable. She'd be perfect as Magnolia Town's mayor!"

After Lucy was done explaining herself, everyone that was sitting at the table turned to look to each other. After a few seconds, everyone turned back around to face Lucy. "Alright, Blondie," Gajeel remarked, "If Shorty's okay with the idea, then we'll go for it. Although personally, I can't imagine her being comfortable running for a political office. She's kind of shy like that."

"Which is why some other members of Fairy Tail," Lucy explained, "Meaning us, will act as Levy's back-up and security."

"Yes, yes," Wendy said as she liked what Lucy was saying, "And Gajeel can be Levy's head of security." With a knowing look on her face, Wendy said before taking a sip of her juice, "This is a _very_ good idea."

Giving Wendy a look of mild disbelief, Gray said, "Geez, Wendy. You're almost as bad as Erza when it comes to me and Juvia."

* * *

Later, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily were talking with Levy about her running for Mayor of Magnolia Town against Duke Everlue. "WAAA?!" Levy exclaimed in a confused and panicked tone, "You guys want me to do what?!"

"Come on, Levy," Lucy said in a near-begging tone, "You'd be perfect for the job! We can't really imagine anyone more qualified to be the mayor of Magnolia Town!"

"Besides, if anyone gives you trouble, your security will deal with them," Erza pointed out.

"My security?" Levy repeated in a confused tone.

"You're going to be running for a political office," Erza clarified, "As such, you'll be needing a security detail to protect you."

"…Who do you have lined up for the job so far?" Levy asked, a mild hint of apprehension in her tone.

"Well there's me," Erza began as she listed off names off the tips of her fingers, "We also got Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Lucy, Bisca, Alzack, Juvia, Elfman, Lisanna, Happy, Pantherlily…"

"Bickslow said that he'd like to sign up for a spot on your security team if he can get the okay from Laxus to do so," Natsu stated as he held up an index finger in a gesture to convey that he was pointing something out.

"And this is saying nothing of how Fairy Tail as a whole will have your back on this, Shorty," Gajeel said in a reassuring tone as he ruffled the top of Levy's head, "Relax. You can do this."

"Umm…" Levy remarked, her tone showing that she was still nervous about what was going on, "…Well, if you all are going to help me, then I suppose that I'll give it a go."

"Alright, everyone!" Natsu cheered as he pumped a fist into the air, "Magnolia Town is about to have its first mayor from Fairy Tail!" Everyone else also cheered as they pumped fists into the air. Levy, despite being nervous about running for mayor, was flattered by all the support that she was getting.

* * *

A short while later, a fair percentage of Magnolia Town's population showed up to a mayoral debate between the candidates running for the position of Magnolia Town's mayor; Duke Everlue and Levy McGarden. "Alright everyone," the debate moderator announced, "We'll begin the debate between candidates Everlue and McGarden by having members of the audience ask the candidates questions."

"Yeah, I have a question for Everlue," Gajeel said as he stood up, "Do you have any plan to protect Magnolia Town from events such as if mage guilds from outside of the city try to come in and raise hell? As a concerned citizen of Magnolia Town, I would not like it if some jerk mage from a guild outside of Magnolia Town were to come in and bully members of Fairy Tail."

"I do, in fact, have a plan to ensure the safety of our fair city," Everlue remarked. Clearing his throat, Everlue said, "I'm going to have a wall built around Magnolia Town."

"A…wall," Natsu said as he stood up, both his tone and expression clearly conveying disbelief and doubt.

"With a wall around Magnolia Town keeping bad things out, Magnolia Town will be safe from any and all hostility," Everlue explained, "I mean, who won't the wall be able to keep out of Magnolia Town, I ask you?"

"Most mages?" Erza replied as she stood up, "I mean, there is a wide variety of magic that would let one get around this supposed wall. Mages could tunnel under the wall, fly over it, phase through it, blast a hole through it and simply walk through, teleport to behind the wall and appear within the city proper…did you not, in all of your wall planning, consider the possibility that a mage may try to force their way into Magnolia Town?"

"You forgot that a fair percentage of Fiore's population can use magic, didn't you?" Gray asked as he stood up. As Everlue struggled to come up with an answer, another member of the audience stood up.

"I have a question for candidate McGarden," said the audience member who stood up, "What is your response to your opponent's plan for ensuring Magnolia Town's safety?"

Turning to face Everlue, Levy gave her best deadpan look as she said, "Sie sind das Essen und Wir sind die Jager." Everlue, not understanding what Levy had just said, could only look at her with a blank look of confusion.

* * *

Later, Gray, along with Juvia Lockser, were walking along Strawberry Street, hanging up some campaign posters for Levy's efforts in becoming Magnolia Town's mayor. "I still think that you'd be better for the role of mayor, Gray-sama," Juvia remarked.

"Thanks for the flattery, but the world of politics isn't my cup of tea," Gray said, "Hell, the others and I had to convince Levy into going along with the plan." Shaking his head gently, Gray said, "Only a complete and total idiot would willingly want to run for office without needing to be encouraged to do so. Hence why Levy has to deal with Everlue."

"…Does the status of 'complete and total idiot' also apply to Natsu?" Juvia asked.

"Ha!" Gray laughed in a clearly amused tone, "It totally does, Juvia! That was a good one!" Gray then offered Juvia a high-five, which the water mage accepted, clearly bashful but very happy that the man of her dreams was giving her words of praise. After the high five, Gray and Juvia went back to hanging campaign posters. "Hey Juvia, I have a question," Gray began in a mildly curious tone.

"What is it, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked.

"Why did we cover the entirety to the front of Lucy's apartment building with the campaign posters?" Gray asked, "I mean, weren't we supposed to post them on buildings all along Strawberry Street?"

"I…was under the impression that we were supposed to do that," Juvia replied, "I mean, aren't we using Lucy's apartment as the campaign headquarters?"

"We are, but don't tell Lucy that," Gray replied as he posted another poster over Lucy's door, "She doesn't know yet." Nodding in agreement, Juvia proceeded to help Gray hang more posters all over Lucy's apartment building.

" _Lucy is trying to steal Gray_ - _sama from me_ ," Juvia thought in a murderous tone, " _I will not allow that to happen_."

* * *

At an assembly the following day, a fair percentage of Magnolia Town's population showed up in front of a large building in Magnolia Town. "Fellow citizens," Everlue began, "Today is the first day of the rest of your lives! From here on out, change will come to Magnolia Town!"

"Oh, so that means your face will cease to be the stuff of nightmares, then?" Gajeel, who was accompanied by Pantherlily, shouted from somewhere within the crowd of gathered Magnolia Town citizens, prompting a fair percentage of the crowd to burst out laughing.

"No, no, no," Everlue said. Gesturing to the building behind him, Everlue continued, "Starting this moment, construction of the Magnolia Town wall will commence! The wall will be as tall as the highest point of this building behind me!" After hearing Everlue's declaration, people in the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves.

"Hold the phone there, Skippy," Natsu, who was accompanied by Happy, said from the crowd, "Are you sure that starting on one of your promises before you're even elected is the best idea in the world?"

"He's got a point," Gray remarked at Everlue, "This is bound to go over poorly with the voters. If I were you, which I'm glad I'm not, then I'd at least wait until _after_ I'm elected."

"Well why should I wait?" Everlue remarked, "I mean, I'm certainly rich enough to afford it, and if I give what I promise now, then the people will know I'm serious."

"If by 'serious' you mean 'seriously deluded', then that would be right on the money," Erza said from the crowd as she pointed at Everlue, "Seriously. Jumping the gun is never a good idea."

"Oh please," Everlue said in a dismissive tone, "I'm pretty sure I'm know what I'm doing. And if I am wrong, then-" Everlue was cut off by a loud rumbling sound that came from behind him, making him turn around and making the crowd look up to see what was going on. As such, they saw a gargantuan, shadowy figure emerge from behind the building that the assembly was taking place outside of. The sudden appearance of this being frightened most of the crowd; only members of Fairy Tail were not worried in the least.

The large being reached down, grabbed Everlue in just one of its massive hands, then picked him up. Raising the hand that held Everlue back, the large being chucked Everlue into the distance with such force that he disappeared clear into the horizon while shouting, "I was going to say may a bolt of lightning strike me down but this works toooooooooooooooooooo…"

After watching Everlue disappear into the horizon, Natsu, Gray, Erza, Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily all turned to face each other. "…Dude, Mirajane's got one hell of a throwing arm," Gray remarked in a clearly impressed tone, "Why did the master teach her how to achieve that particular transformation?" The others could only stare at Gray, as they had no idea either.

* * *

Two days later, Levy was sitting in an office in a government building in Magnolia Town. Helping Levy set up the room was Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna. "So, Levy," Lucy began in a cheerful tone, "How does it feel to be the new mayor of Magnolia Town?"

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Levy replied honestly.

"That means you'll make for a perfect politician!" Lisanna remarked as she straightened a painting that was hanging in the office.

"I think that as your first act as mayor, you should make it illegal for Lucy to go after Gray-sama," Juvia said to Levy.

"For the last time, I have no interest in Gray like that, Juvia!" Lucy nearly exclaimed. Turning to face Levy, Lucy said, "Levy, please help me set the record straight with Juvia."

"…" Levy only stared at Lucy with a mild amount of suspicion for a few seconds before she said, "…Can I first get your complete and total assurance that you aren't interest in Gajeel like that either?"

"Not you too!" Lucy exclaimed, shocked with what she was hearing.

END, CHAPTER ONE

Author's notes:

…Well, this is my first go at writing a Fairy Tail story. Just so that we're absolutely clear, I only included the bits about a wall because I wanted to make an AoT reference or two. Anywho, I have no idea how well this chapter will go over; only time will tell. If I do get enough positive feedback on this, then I'll consider continuing with this story.

Have a good day.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter two: The one wherein Erza brings the girls with her on a quest

One day in Magnolia Town, Fiore, Fairy Tail mage Gray Fullbuster was sitting at the bar in the Fairy Tail guild hall's main area, reading a newspaper. "…Huh, we'll that's a heartbreaker," Gray remarked in a tone that was casual but with a hint of being somber as he read his newspaper. When Gray had spoken aloud, he caught the attention of Mirajane Strauss, a fellow Fairy Tail mage who works the bar in the guild hall.

"What's up, Gray?" Mirajane asked, her interest piqued by what Gray had said, although her tone sounded like she was a bit worried about what Gray had read.

Giving his newspaper a gentle smack with the back of his right hand, Gray explained, "I just read this article that says that there was a multi-carriage collision in Oshibana Town, right outside of the Oshibana Station, that resulted in the deaths of about a dozen people."

"Oh dear," Mirajane said in a concerned tone, holding a hand over her chest in a gesture that conveyed heartbreak, "That does sound terrible."

"The article further goes on to say that one of the carriage drivers, who was one of the few to survive the collision, was under the influence of alcohol," Gray said in a tone of mild disgust, "Luckily, the jerk was arrested, so here's hoping that he'll-"

"Gray!" a familiar female voice called out, interrupting Gray in the process and prompting both him and Mirajane to look over and see Erza Scarlet walk over. "I don't suppose you can tell me where I can find Juvia, can you?" Erza asked.

"You're not going to try to trick me into going on a date with Juvia again, are you?" Gray asked, his tone mildly wary.

"No, that's not what I'm aiming for this time," Erza explained with a gentle shake of her head. Facing both Gray and Mirajane, Erza said, "I've just accepted a quest from the board, and it's one that I'm going to want Lucy, Juvia and Levy to help me with."

"Well so long as you don't forget to give Lucy her share of the quest payout, then I don't see why she'd complain abut you dragging her along onto some random quest," Gray remarked.

"Wait a minute, Erza" Mirajane began in a mildly confused tone, "Are you sure that bringing Levy with you is a good idea? I mean, she just became the mayor of Magnolia Town, so shouldn't she stay here to run the city?"

"Hmm," Erza began to reply in a mildly amused tone, "That's where Levy's vice-mayor comes in."

"Vice-mayor?" Gray repeated in a mildly confused tone, "Since when did Levy have a vice-mayor? And while we're on the subject, is vice-mayor even a thing?"

"Oh sure," Erza replied casually, "I mean, Laxus has really settled into the role." With a look of mild bafflement on her face, Erza added, "It still beats me why Laxus made Freed his secretary over the more obvious choice of Evergreen."

"Maybe it amused Laxus to do that," Mirajane remarked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Gray said, "But I think we're getting off subject here." Facing Erza specifically, Gray asked, "You said you wanted Juvia, right?"

"Indeed," Erza replied with a nod, "Is there a way you can get ahold of her?"

"I'll need a glass of water first," Gray replied as he took off his shirt. Mirajane obliged Gray's request, and once Gray had laid his shirt off to the side, he turned around on his barstool so that his back was to the bar, he leaned against the bar, let his head fall back, then took the glass of water and dumped it over his face, soaking his face as if he were looking up into the sky while standing outside while it was raining. Not one second later, Juvia Lockser came running over, having sensed that her Gray-sama was being sexy.

"Gray-sam-" Juvia began to call out in an obviously happy tone, but she was cut off by Erza, who was looking for her.

"Ah, there you are, Juvia," Erza said as she laid her hand on Juvia's right shoulder, grabbing the water mage's attention.

"Is there a problem, Erza?" Juvia asked, a curious look on her face.

"I require assistance from you, Lucy and Levy for a quest that I just got from the board," Erza explained, "Get a bag packed and get ready to meet me back here within a few hours."

"…Isn't Levy supposed to be running the city?" Juvia asked.

"Erza got Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe to fill in for Levy," Gray explained.

"He's right," Erza said to the water mage, "But that is besides the point. I need you, Lucy and Levy to meet me outside of the guild hall within a few hours, ready to go on a quest that should take at most a few days."

"But…Gray-sama is being sexy right now!" Juvia said as she gestured to the soaked ice make mage that sat near the girls.

"I'll have him dump another glass of water over his face when we get back," Erza offered, "Just get ready to meet me and the others I'm going to gather outside of the guild hall."

"Well…alright," Juvia replied after a few seconds, seeing that there wasn't a whole lot of room for her to argue against the S-rank requip mage.

After Erza and Juvia took their respective leaves, Gray sighed in a mildly annoyed tone. "…It still beats me what Erza thinks from time to time," Gray remarked as he began to wipe his face with a handcloth that Mirajane provided him with.

"Hey, look at the bright side," Mirajane said, "At least Erza isn't as bad when it comes to you and Juvia as Cana is when it comes to Natsu and Lucy."

"True," Gray replied in a tone of agreement.

* * *

Later, Erza was leading a group consisting of Juvia, Lucy Heartfilia and Levy McGarden as they approached a village that looked quaint enough. "So Erza," Lucy began in a curious tone, "What's with the job that you took me, Juvia and Levy on?"

"The village we're about to head to is known for having a number of bakeries," Erza explained, "The client who sent the quest request to Fairy Tail says that his bakery and a number of others in the village have been the victim of strange goings-on as of late. I suspect that our job, once we meet up with the client, is to investigate the strange goings-on and try to bring them to a stop."

"And you brought the three of us specifically along because…" Juvia asked as she gestured to herself, Lucy and Levy, expecting to be filled in.

"I figured that you girls would appreciate the opportunity to indulge your sweet tooth," Erza replied. Turning around, Erza said as she practically beamed in excitement, "I'm certainly looking forward to it!"

"Heh, figures," Lucy muttered to herself, not surprised that Erza chose a job that would come with a very high chance of netting her at least one cake, hopefully one that was strawberry.

"Also…" Erza went on, getting the attention of the girls that she brought with her, "…I've sincerely been wanting to get to know you girls better. I…I care a lot about you three, and I'm hoping to, perhaps, get to be closer friends with you three."

"Aww," Levy said in a touched tone, "That is so sweet, Erza."

After a bit more walking, Erza, Lucy, Juvia and Levy reached the village. "Well girls, here we are," Erza said as she gestured to the front entry gate of the village, "This is Hotcake Village. Let's go find the quest client so we can get started."

"Right," Lucy said as she and the other girls followed Erza into Hotcake Village.

* * *

"…And while she's going through extensive physical therapy," a balding middle-aged man said to Erza and her team, "I highly doubt the young waitress working at my brother-in-law's diner will ever regain her full ability to walk properly ever again."

As Erza and the girl's listened to the man's story, they all sighed in annoyed tones, with Lucy even facepalming while muttering to herself, "I need to have a serious talk with Alzack and Bisca when I get back to Fairy Tail. The stunt that they pulled on their job here sounds like something I'd expect out of Natsu."

"But I suppose I've bothered you fine girls enough with tales of the past," the middle-aged man said, "You four said that you were here for the quest request I sent to the Fairy Tail guildhall, am I right?"

"That is indeed true, sir," Erza replied with a nod in the affirmative, "From what the request included in the short description, strange goings-on have been happening as of late, causing problems for a lot of the bakeries here in Hotcake Village."

"Indeed," the middle-aged man, revealed to be the quest client, said, "A few of the things I've heard about include finding chairs broken, storefront windows smashed, and loads of baked goods mysteriously disappeared. My bakery has yet to be victimized by the strange goings-on, but I fear that things may not stay that way for long."

"When do the strange goings-on occur?" Lucy asked.

"They always occur during the night, when everyone is asleep," the quest client explained, "Because the events are always discovered in the morning, when the bakeries open up for their daily business."

"I see," Erza replied. Getting up, Erza turned to face Lucy, Juvia and Levy. "We're going to have to investigate some of the bakeries that have been victimized so far, girls," Erza said to her group, "Then, once we gather and go over the evidence, we'll figure out which places would be best to set up a watch at. Are we clear?"

"Right!" Lucy, Juvia and Levy all cheered as they pumped fists into the air in a gesture to show that they were going to follow Erza's lead on this one.

* * *

Lucy and Levy went to one of the bakeries that was owned by a young adult woman who was pretty enough. This young adult woman had blue hair as long as Bisca's green hair, and the young woman was almost as big of a person as Droy, a clear sign that she occasionally taste tested some of her own culinary creations.

"…That's when I discovered that three cakes and an entire tray of muffins were suddenly gone, not to mention all of the money in the register was gone," the baker girl said as she finished her tale, a worried look on her face, "That's what happened last night."

"Did you find anything that may clue someone in on who might have been responsible for ransacking and robbing your bakery?" Lucy asked.

"Hmm…" the baker girl said, "…Well, earlier this morning, as I was going to report what had happened, my friend who owns the clothing store next door said that she saw something from the window of the apartment that she keeps over her clothing store last night."

"What did she see?" Levy asked.

"She said…" the bakery owner said as she strained her memory, "…She said that she saw three men come running out of my bakery. The first two men both wore similar outfits that consisted of sleeveless men's tank tops, pants and boots, and that both men also wore bandanas over the lower halves of their respective faces. The third man, according to my friend, was a young adult who, from what my friend told me, I believe would be roughly in the same age group as you two." Nodding in a manner that conveyed that she was confident about the description she just gave, the baker went on to say, "Yeah, I'm positive that's what my friend said about the third man that she saw."

"Did your friend say what this third man looks like?" Lucy asked.

"My friend said that the third man had long black spiky hair that was slicked back," the baker explained, "And that he had small metal studs over various parts of his body, and he wore a long and sleeveless black coat of some kind. Oh, and the third man also had some mage's guild mark on his left shoulder." With a confident nod, the baker added, "My friend said that she saw the third man chase the first two, as if he wanted to try to capture them or…some…thing. …Umm, excuse me, blue-haired girl, but why do you look shocked?"

"This…this third man that your friend said she said she saw chase the first two men," Levy began. Turning around so she could show her Fairy Tail guild mark, which was on her left shoulder blade, Levy asked while reaching over her back to point at her guild mark, "Did his mage's guild mark look like this?"

"I wouldn't know," the baker replied with a gentle shake of her head, "But I bet my friend would be able to tell you." Within a minute or so, the baker's friend who owned the next-door clothing store came over. She was about as tall and slim as Lucy but with a slightly smaller bust (that was still bigger than Levy's), and her hair was light brown and as short as Juvia's back when she had just joined Fairy Tail, which was shortly before Laxus went off his rocker.

"…Oh yes!" the clothing store owner said as she got a good look at Levy's Fairy Tail guild mark, "The man that I saw chasing the other two men from last night had that exact same guild mark, but it was on his left shoulder and it was black." With a mildly confused look on her face, the clothing store owner said, "Do you perhaps know the third man from last night?"

"Yeah," Levy replied as she turned back around, "His name is Gajeel Redfox, and he's a guildmate of me and Lu-chan's." With a gentle shake of her head, Levy continued, "I don't suppose that you also saw a small flying black cat following Gajeel, did you?"

"So, I wasn't seeing things!" the clothing store owner said. With a nod, the clothing store owner continued, "Yeah, I saw a little black cat with round ears following this Gajeel fellow. It had white feathery wings growing out of it's back, and it was following your guildmate as he chased the other two men!"

"Huh," Lucy said as she folded her arms over her chest, "What are Gajeel and Pantherlily doing here in Hotcake Village?"

"There's only one way to find out," Levy replied, "But we can discuss that later. For now, we ought to report this to Erza and Juvia. No doubt they'll be interested in hearing that Gajeel and Pantherlily are here in Hotcake Village." Lucy nodded in agreement with her best friend before the two of them thanked the bakery owner and the clothing store owner for their time before they took their leave.

* * *

Over at another bakery, Erza and Juvia were talking to the owner of that bakery, a fairly handsome young adult man who didn't seem to indulge in his own culinary creations all that much. "So then, describe these three men that your next-door neighbor said he saw come running out of your bakery last night," Erza said to the male bakery owner.

"The first two men both wore similar outfits that consisted of sleeveless men's tank tops, pants and boots, and that both men also wore bandanas over the lower halves of their respective faces," the male bakery owner explained, "As for the third man, he was a young adult who from what my neighbor told me might be around the same age as your blue-haired companion here."

Seeing the male bakery owner gesture to Juvia, Erza said, "I see."

"This third man had spiky hair that my neighbor said was pink in color," the male bakery owner began to explain, "And that this pink-haired man also wore a white scarf that had fringes at both ends. The guy also wore a black with gold trim sleeveless waist coat and a matching waist cloth, and that he also saw a red mage's guild mark on the third guy's right shoulder. Also, my neighbor claimed that he saw a small blue cat flying after the third guy as the third guy chased the first two guys."

"…Huh, well what do you know?" Erza said more to herself than to anyone else. To the male bakery owner specifically, Erza said, "Sir, I believe that the third man that your neighbor saw last night is Natsu Dragneel, who is a fellow member of Fairy Tail alongside myself and Juvia. The blue cat you saw is Natsu's companion Happy."

"Really?" the male bakery owner said, "What's one of your guildmates doing here in Hotcake Village?"

With a gentle shake of her head, Erza replied, "I have no clue. Although if Juvia and I run into Natsu and Happy, we can ask them what their business here is." After they concluded their business with the male bakery owner, Erza and Juvia took their leave from the bakery. "Okay then," Erza said, "The first major clue we got is that someone saw Natsu and Happy chase two other guys out of this bakery the previous night."

"We should inform Lucy and Levy about this, Erza," Juvia remarked, "I bet they would be interested in hearing about this."

Nodding once in an agreeing manner, Erza said, "Right."

* * *

When Lucy, Levy, Juvia and Erza met up with each other, they told each other about what they discovered. Both groups were surprised to hear that four of the men form the previous evening were all dressed similarly, and that Natsu, Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily were all going after the four men. "Are Natsu and Gajeel seriously working together on a quest?" Lucy said, clearly not believing the conclusion that she and the other girls had reached, and for good reason.

"It seems so," Erza remarked, "We ought to look into this, seeing as how our quest seems to be crossing over with the quest that Natsu, Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily are on. I suspect that the two quests might even be related to each other."

"Right," Juvia said with an agreeing nod. The four girls then went about Hotcake Village, asking anyone if they had seen guys with Natsu's and Gajeel's respective descriptions out and about anywhere. They eventually found an older man who had an answer that they were looking for.

"Yeah, I saw the fellers you just describe go running down the path that leads from Hotcake Village and in to the nearby woods," the older man said as he pointed the way, "They were accompanied by three flying cats and a young girl with long bluish hair in twin pigtails."

"And now Wendy and Carla are here," Erza said as she turned to face the other girls.

"At least that might explain why Natsu and Gajeel would be willing to work together on a quest," Lucy offered with a shrug.

"Indeed," Erza replied. Turning back around to face the older man, Erza said, "Thank you for your time. Now then, if you'll excuse my friends and I, we're going to go down the path our fellow guildmates took."

'I'd be careful if I were you," the older man said in a tone of mild warning, "I heard that bandits often roam the forest that the path those three and their cats took goes through."

"Oh please," Erza said in a dismissive tone, "Like simple bandits would be enough to stop my friends and I." Turning around to face Lucy, Levy and Juvia, Erza aid as she gestured for them to follow her, "Come on, girls, we've got some Dragon Slayers to go after." Lucy and the others cheered in agreement as they followed Erza down the path that led into the forest near Hotcake Village.

* * *

As the four girls walked down the forest path, Lucy said, "I wonder what kind of quest Natsu and the others are on."

"Obviously something that they heard was related to dragons," Erza remarked in a confident tone, "I mean, the team consists of Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and their respective exceed partners. Since Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy are all Dragon Slayer mages, you've got to figure."

"Yeah well-" Lucy began, but she was cut off when she and the other girls heard a young adult man yip in surprise. Looking over, the girls all saw a man dressed similarly to one of the four men that Natsu and Gajeel were seen chasing. Upon being noticed by the girls, the man tried to turn tail and run away, but Erza summoned a sword with her requip magic and threw it as if it were a dart; the sword impaled a tree right as the fleeing man went past it. The suddenness of the sword impaling the tree made the man freeze up out of fright. Before he could do anything, the man was surrounded by Erza, Lucy, Levy and Juvia.

"We would be having words with you," Erza said to the man, her tone making it clear that he wasn't going to get out of this.

"What do you ant with me?" the man said in a panicking tone, "It's bad enough me and my fellow bandits were beaten by those three mages and their flying talking cats, but now I have to deal with you and these girls here?"

"Tell us what happened," Erza ordered as she gave the man a firm glare, "And do not spare any details."

"Alright," the man agreed, clearly worried that he would have been throttled by Erza, "Last night, m fellow bandits and I snuck into a nearby village that had a lot of bakeries. We robbed the bakeries of the money in the registers, as well as taking as many baked goods as we could carry so we can feed Lord Higurath."

"Lord Higurath?" Lucy repeated in a confused tone, "Who's Lord Higurath?"

"It's a giant reptile-like monster that's five times the size of the average full-grown cow," the bandit explained, "We feed Lord Higurath the bakes goods we steal so that it won't go on a rampage out of lack of food. The last time that happened, Lord Higurath went to a farming village near the village with a lot of bakeries and tore up a bunch of farming fields. My fellow bandits and I were almost discovered because of that!"

"Where can we find this Lord Higurath of yours?" Levy asked.

Pointing down the path, the bandit said, "If you just keep going straight, you'll find the hideout my fellow bandits and I use. Maybe you can do something about those mages that came in; I was fleeing the hideout because those three mages started attacking all of us!"

"Very well," Erza said, then with a swift punch to his stomach, Erza knocked the bandit out cold. After having Levy bind the bandit with a Solid Script spell, Erza said, "Girls, we're going to head to the bandit hideout to see what Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy and the cats are up to. I'm guessing that it's either a bandit-elimination quest or a quest to slay that Lord Higurath creature, maybe a mix of both."

"Right," Lucy, Levy and Juvia said in unison as they proceeded to follow Erza, who was carrying the bandit she knocked out.

* * *

Within a few minutes, Erza and her group reached a clearing in which a camp was set up. Looking around, Erza and the girls saw a bunch of bandits laying on the ground, all of which were clearly knocked out. Levy even suspected from some of those bandits that some of them might actually be dead. The four girls also saw clear evidence all over the bandit camp grounds that Fire Dragon Slayer, Iron Dragon Slayer, and Sky Dragon Slayer magic had been used, what with all of the damage.

"…Yep," Lucy said in an unsurprised tone as she looked around the wrecked bandit camp, "This is the kind of damage that only a Fairy Tail mage can pull off."

"Indeed," Erza said as she unceremoniously dropped the knocked-out bandit she was carrying on the ground. Sucking in a breath first, Erza then shouted, "HEY NATSU, GAJEEL, WENDY! WHERE ARE YOU THREE?!" A few seconds later, Happy, Pantherlily and Carla appeared flying out of a cave that was located on the grounds of the bandit camp.

"Erza?" Happy said in a confused tone, "Lucy? Levy? Juvia? What are you guys doing here?"

"We were investigating strange goings-on at Hotcake Village, which is located nearby," Erza explained, "We heard people mention having seen you, Pantherlily, Natsu and Gajeel chase bandits out of bakeries last night, and we followed the trail to this camp." Gesturing to the exceeds, Erza said, "Now how about you all? What is your business here?"

"Wendy took a quest to investigate some large reptile-like creature that attacked a nearby farming village two days ago," Carla explained, "Wendy thought that the creature might be some dragon-like monster, so she figured it would be worth looking into. She asked Natsu and Gajeel if they wanted to come along, as they themselves are also Dragon Slayers like Wendy."

"Where are Natsu and the others now?" Lucy asked.

Pointing in the direction of the cave, Pantherlily said, "They're in the cave, fighting the-"

"Hey Pantherlily!" Gajeel's voice called out, getting everyone to turn and see Gajeel, Natsu and Wendy come walking out of the cave; Gajeel was dragging the severed head of a large reptile-like creature. "Salamander, the squirt and I just killed that 'Lord Higurath' thing," Gajeel said, "We ought to head to the farming village and tell the quest client that-" Gajeel stopped short when he and his fellow Dragon Slayers saw Erza and her group.

"…Scarlet?" Gajeel said in a surprised and confused tone, "What are you, Blondie, Shorty and Juvia doing here?"

"We…have a lot to talk about, it seems," Erza replied.

* * *

After Erza and her party wrapped up their business in Hotcake Village, they met up with the Dragon Slayers and the exceed, who just completed their quest and collected the quest reward. "Heh, wow," Natsu remarked with a bit of a chuckle, "Who would have guessed that your quest ended up mixing with the quest Wendy took me and the others on?"

"The client in Hotcake Village was surprised to hear that our quest intersected with yours," Erza remarked, "Even so, the girls and I completed our quest and got paid for it."

"It paid four million jewel, so the girls and I are going to split it into four equal shares," Juvia explained.

"You don't say," Gajeel remarked, "But anywho, something's bothering me." Turning to face Levy, Gajeel said, "Hey Shorty, what are you doing here on a quest? Shouldn't you be back in Magnolia Town running the place? I mean, you are the mayor now, so one would figure that you should keep an eye on your town."

"Erza said she got someone to serve as vice-mayor while I'm out," Levy explained.

"Vice-mayor?" Gajeel repeated in a confused tone, "Is that even a thing?" Looking over to Erza, Gajeel asked while pointing to Levy, "And speaking of, who did you get to fill in for her while she's on the quest with you?"

…

Back in Magnolia Town, Jet and Droy were walking through the second floor of the Magnolia Town city hall, intending to speak with Levy. When they reached the doors that led into Levy's office, they both saw to their collective surprise that Freed Justine was sitting at the secretary's desk outside of the doors that led into Levy's office. "…Freed?" Jet said in a surprised and confused tone, "What are you doing here?"

"Laxus is serving as substitute mayor while Mayor McGarden is on a quest with Erza, Lucy and Juvia," Freed explained.

"And you're sitting at the secretary's desk because…" Droy said as he trailed off, expecting to be filled in.

"Laxus made me his secretary," Freed replied.

"…Why?" Jet asked, completely baffled.

With a shrug, Freed said, "My guess is that doing so amused Laxus."

Walking out of Levy's office was Laxus Dreyar, who said as he walked past Jet, Droy and Freed, "He's right, you know."

END, CHAPTER TWO

Author's notes:

To be completely honest, it took me a while to figure out what the quest Erza took Lucy, Levy and Juvia on should be. After I settled on what they should do, the rest of this chapter just…came to me naturally. I also thought it would be interesting if the main Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail ended up crossing paths with the girls due to their respective quests intersecting with each other. Anywho, hopefully the next chapter won't take me as long; I was _really_ blanking on the quest that Erza took the other girls on.

Nin-nin!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter three: A somewhat unoriginal plot, if you think about it

Lucy Heartfilia and Juvia Lockser were sitting at the counter of the bar in the Fairy Tail guild hall one day in Magnolia Town, Fiore. As the two girls were talking, Levy McGarden, a close friend of Juvia's and Lucy's bestie, came walking up to the bar counter. Sitting down on Lucy's right (Juvia sat on Lucy's left, thus putting the celestial spirit mage in the middle), Levy called out to get Mirajane Strauss, a fellow Fairy Tail mage who often works the bar.

"What can I do you for, Levy?" Mirajane asked in her usual happy, perky tone.

"I need ice cream," Levy replied, a hint of seriousness in her tone. This serious hint caught the attention of Lucy and Juvia, but went by Mirajane unnoticed.

"What flavor?" Mirajane asked.

"Strawberry," Levy replied.

"Any toppings?" Mirajane continued as she pulled out a bowl for the ice cream and set it on the counter.

"Those little multi-colored sprinkles," Levy began, "Some pickle chips, and some of that caramel ice cream topping from the squeeze bottle." After hearing the second choice of ice cream topping from her bestie, Lucy went wide-eyed with a mix of shock and surprise; did…did the sweet, adorable bookworm of Fairy Tail really just say what Lucy thought she had just said? There's got to be some mistake.

"What flavor of pickle chips do you want?" Mirajane asked casually.

"Bread and Butter flavor," Levy replied, the seriousness of her tone never having left.

Mirajane reached down and pulled out a jar of the aforementioned flavor of pickle chips. After setting the jar down on the counter, Mirajane looked at it and remarked, "Huh. It'll be out of pickle chips when I'm done preparing the ice cream for you. I guess I'll just dump the juice in the jar once all the chips are gone."

"No, leave it there when you use up the chips," Levy said in her same serious tone, "I want to drink the juice."

"Alright, then," Mirajane replied in a calm and casual tone without missing a beat. After Mirajane went to a freezer to get the ice cream, Lucy turned her head to regard her bestie. Noticing that she was being looked at, Levy turned her head to her left and saw Lucy staring at her with a look of disbelief.

"Are…are you okay, Levy?" Lucy asked right as Juvia leaned forward and turned her head so she could also face the blue-haired bookworm.

"Well other than the fact that my feet are killing me, I'm perfectly fine, Lu-chan," Levy replied, "Thanks for asking."

"You…you made an awfully weird request for ice cream topping," Juvia remarked.

With a confused look on her face, Levy replied, "Caramel topping is weird?"

"No, no, that's not what Juvia me-" Lucy began to say, but she was cut off when the doors to the front of the guildhall were thrown open, catching a lot of peoples' attention. Walking into the guildhall were Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Gajeel Redfox and Erza Scarlet, with the cats Happy and Pantherlily flying in after the human mages.

"Once again, I am victorious!" Erza declared triumphantly as she pumped a fist into the air.

"Erza, what's going on exactly?" Lucy asked as she and Juvia got up and walked over to Erza and the boys.

"I have won a contest that got me an invitation to a high-end party being hosted by one of the wealthiest people living not just in Magnolia Town, but in Fiore as a whole," Erza explained, "In addition to being able to head to that party, I can bring my six closest friends."

"Small animals don't count towards that limit, by the way," Pantherlily remarked.

"And the boys are here with you because…" Lucy said, trailing off in a manner that showed she expected to be filled in.

"We were with Erza helping her with a job," Natsu replied, "During the job, Erza learned that she won the contest, so Gray, Gajeel, Happy, Pantherlily and I went with her to pick up the prize that she won." At that prompting, Erza pulled out seven tickets.

Pointing to Lucy and Juvia, Erza said, "You two and Levy are coming with the boys and I to the party!"

"Well alright!" Lucy replied, "Sounds like this party is going to be great!"

"It will be if I have anything to say about it," Natsu declared. Giving Lucy and Juvia a thumbs-up, Natsu continued, "You girls are going to have a blast!"

"Speaking of girls, where's Shorty?" Gajeel asked.

Jerking a thumb in the direction of the bar, Lucy said, "She's eating ice cream with pickle chips over there. And she's also going to drink the juice from the pickle chip jar." This drew a confused and surprised look from the Iron Dragon Slayer, who leaned to his side slightly so he could get a look at the bar.

* * *

Later that evening, Erza and her group showed up at the large and stately mansion of Duchess Nicole, the woman hosting the party. The Fairy Tail mages were even greeted by Nicole herself; she had long flowing blonde hair that seemed to shine like gold, and she wore an elegant long-sleeved white dress. She was also decked out in a fair amount of jewelry.

"So, you are the one who won the contest," Duchess Nicole said to Erza, "I must admit, it's a bit surprising that an armored knight was the one who won the contest."

"Actually, my companions and I are all mages," Erza explained, "My magic revolves around summoning various armors and weapons to use in battle."

"Oh, a requip mage," Duchess Nicole remarked, "Well that would certainly explain it." With a hint of curiosity in her expression, Duchess Nicole continued, "You say that you're all mages, right? What mage guild if any do you belong to?"

"Fairy Tail," Erza replied casually.

"Fairy Tail?" Duchess Nicole repeated, "Then you must know Bisca Connell."

"I do," Erza said, "Why do you ask?"

"When you next see Bisca, can you give her this message for me?" Duchess Nicole replied, then before anyone could react, Duchess Nicole gave Erza a rather hard slap across the face. The duchess then turned around and gestured for Erza and her group to come inside the mansion for the party.

"…I need to have a serious talk with Bisca after all of this is done," Erza remarked as she and the others entered the mansion.

* * *

Inside, the main hall of the mansion was set up for a high-end party. It's one of those kinds of parties that only the rich and upper class tend to go to. So, as one can imagine, seeing seven mages, all of which were in their usual get ups rather than wearing anything formal for the high-end party, and two talking cats as guests at the party is bound to draw some attention. "Ah, Mayor McGarden," a portly and balding middle-aged man said as he and a woman that the mages assumed was the man's wife approached the group to talk to Levy.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that Levy's the mayor of Magnolia Town now," Erza muttered to herself.

"Can I help you?" Levy asked in a curious tone.

"I just want to know what you plan to do about the property tax in Magnolia Town," the portly man remarked, "And if you plan to continue offering tax breaks to upper class members such as myself and the others invited to the party."

"Mayor McGarden will be answering all questions related to what she intends to do for Magnolia Town in a press conference later this week," Gajeel remarked as he stepped forward, "I'm sorry, but the office of the mayor isn't one to let out spoilers."

"Ah, that's fair enough, I suppose," the portly man replied, "My apologies for bothering you, Mayor McGarden."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Levy said. After the portly man and his wife gave a respectful nod to Levy, the two or them turned around and went off elsewhere into the party. The mages turned around to go check out more of the party, but they were met up by Duchess Nicole and a woman that was with her. This second woman looked somewhat younger that Duchess Nicole, and she wore a long-sleeved dress that was similar in elegance to the dress worn by the duchess.

"Yes, this armored mage with the long red hair is the one who won the contest," Duchess Nicole said to the woman that was with her, "And the other mages are her friends that she brought."

"Is this a friend of yours, Duchess Nicole?" Erza asked as she gestured to the other woman.

"This is my younger sister Tabitha," Duchess Nicole explained, "She's helping me with managing the festivities of the party." As Erza and her group greeted Tabitha, the younger sister of the duchess walked up to the group of Fairy Tail mages, giving them a serious look of consideration. Finally, Tabitha ended up speaking, her voice sounding surprisingly youthful, like that of a girl in her mid to late teens.

"Aren't you Mayor McGarden?" Tabitha said as she pointed to Levy, "Wow, I can't believe that you came to the party my older sister is hosting! I voted for you in the mayoral elections a while ago, you know. I'm sorry, but what that Everlue fellow was planning on doing with Magnolia Town just struck me as wrong."

"The fact that he tried running for mayor in the first place is wrong," Lucy remarked dryly. Lucy's comment drew a bit of a chuckle out of Tabitha.

"Ain't that the truth," Tabitha remarked in a tone of agreement, a clear hint of good humor in her tone.

"Let's leave the messy world of politics aside for now," Duchess Nicole said, "After all, we have a party to get to!" This drew a round of cheering from Tabitha and the Fairy Tail mages that had come to the party.

* * *

And so, the party commenced. Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily were chatting it up with some of the men who came to the party, while Erza and the girls were off to the side, having a discussion with Duchess Nicole and her sister Tabitha. "You…you had _what_ as a topping for your ice cream, Mayor McGarden?" Duchess Nicole asked, a shocked look of bafflement on her otherwise calm and serene face.

"Bread and Butter flavored pickle chips," Levy replied, "And since I used up the last of the chips that were in the jar, I also drank the juice that was in the jar."

Turning to face Lucy, Juvia and Erza, Duchess Nicole asked, "Is…is it normal for the mages of your guild to eat weird things?"

"Well Gray-sama likes to put Worcestershire sauce on his peas," Juvia pointed out in a casual tone, "Not to mention the fact that Lisanna's older brother Elfman likes putting honey mustard on his mashed potatoes, and Cana occasionally likes to sweeten wine with honey itself. There's also the fact that Gajeel likes to eat iron and Natsu likes to eat fire."

"Weird tastes in food are nothing to bat an eye at in Fairy Tail, Duchess Nicole," Erza said as she turned to fact the host of the party, "Not to mention how much food the average Fairy Tail mage can put away in one sitting. Why, I once defeated Reedus, a fellow guildmate of mine, in a cake eating contest."

"It was strawberry cake, so Erza had the advantage," Lucy remarked dryly.

"Well at least you Fairy Tail mages are an interesting and lively bunch," Duchess Nicole said, "That being said, I'm glad that you all came here to the party."

"Well I'm certainly glad that you held that contest," Erza replied. The duchess nodded in agreement before excusing herself to take care of something, leaving Tabitha alone to entertain the Fairy Tail mage girls.

"So, Tabitha, I've been meaning to ask," Juvia began, "Since your older sister is a duchess, what does that make you?"

"I am a duchess as well," Tabitha replied, "Although as she is the older of us two, Nicole is the one who often handles business such as receiving important guests, and managing the affairs of the area that we preside over."

"Yeah, I was just curious about what your position was," Juvia remarked, "Sorry if that came out of the blue."

"It is no trouble at all," Tabitha said, "In fact, it is rare that people show an interest in-"

"KYAAAAAAAAAA!" a woman's voice shrieked in a frightened manner from somewhere in the mansion, catching the attention of Tabitha and the Fairy Tail mage girls. The boys of their group came back over upon hearing the frightened shriek.

"Did someone see Droy naked?" Gray asked after he and the guys met up with the girls.

"Droy's not here," Levy pointed out to Gray, "Also, where's your shirt?" Upon looking down, Gray saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt. As Gray freaked out over having unknowingly stripped once again, the group headed for the direction that the shriek came from.

* * *

Upon arriving to the source of the shriek, the kitchen area, Erza strode in with her guildmates that were with her following in behind. However, what the Fairy Tail mages saw was not something that they were prepared to see at the party; Duchess Nicole was found lying dead on the floor in the kitchen, in a pool of her own blood. Tabitha, upon seeing her sister lying dead, instantly fainted.

"Does anybody else know what happened here?" Erza asked the two maids that were in the kitchen.

"No, word hasn't gotten out yet," the first maid said, "When I discovered Duchess Nicole's body, I immediately closed off the kitchen to prevent people from finding out what happened. It wouldn't do us any good if the people invited to the party were to panic."

"And we also don't want to alert the murderer that his or her deed had been carried out," the second maid added, "They might make themselves scarce if word get out that what they did has been discovered."

"Good thinking," Erza said as she used her requip magic to change what she was wearing. When the magic was done, Erza was outfitted in a classic detective's outfit. "My guildmates and I shall keep everyone here at the party from leaving until the case is cracked," Erza declared, "You have our word that the murderer shall not escape justice."

Giving Erza a confused and questioning look, the first maid said, "You're going to try and figure out who murdered Duchess Nicole?"

"Well why not?" Erza replied, "After all, she had been a most hospitable host not just to myself and my friends, but to everyone that had been invited to the party." Turning around to face Natsu and the others, Erza said, "Come on, everyone! We've got a murder mystery to crack! We don't have any time to waste!" This drew a round of cheering from the rest of the group, all of which were on board for the task of investigating the murder.

* * *

The Fairy Tail members divided up into three groups of nine, with the first group being Natsu, Lucy and Happy, who were going from room to room in case the murderer was trying to hide. "I still can't believe that the duchess was murdered," Lucy remarked in a mildly sad tone.

"Not to mention the fact that there's technically a killer loose on the premises," Happy remarked, "We have to be cautious here."

"Yes, Happy-san," Natsu said, having wrapped his scarf around his head to make it look like he was wearing a ninja mask. Holding his hands together with his index fingers sticking up to make a hand sign, Natsu continued, "We must be cautious. Nin-nin!"

"Aye, nin-nin!" Happy replied as he made the same hand sign with his front paws.

"Of course, you guys would do that," Lucy deadpanned, facepalming at the fooling around of the Fire Dragon Slayer and his blue cat friend, "But do try to stay on task here. We've got a killer to find after all."

"If we're trying to find a killer, then we should think like one," Natsu remarked.

"So…we have to think like Erza?" Happy guessed more than asked.

"I can't fault you for thinking that," Lucy said to Happy in a deadpan tone.

* * *

The second group of three consisted of Gray, Juvia and Erza, who were interviewing the two maids that discovered Duchess Nicole's body. After the first maid had to excuse herself due to being emotionally overwhelmed, with the second maid following her to make sure she was okay, Erza slumped into a chair that was in the room as she gave a heavy sigh.

"This is going to be a long night," Erza remarked in a resigned tone, "I just know it."

"To think that the best witnesses we have to work with are two panicked maids who didn't even see the crime being carried out," Gray said, "That will only make investigating the murder all the more difficult."

"Who's searching the kitchen for clues again?" Juvia asked.

"Gajeel, Levy and Pantherlily," Erza replied, "I wanted either the group Gajeel's in or the group Natsu's in to search the kitchen for clues."

"Oh yeah, Dragon Slayer's noses," Gray remarked, "You're hoping that Gajeel can sniff out some more clues to help us figure out who did the deed."

"It's more effective than any dog, that's for sure," Erza said. Getting up from the chair, Erza said to Gray and Juvia, "Well then, come on. Let's go trying some notable party guests." Gray and Juvia nodded in agreement with Erza before they proceeded to follow her out of the room that they were interviewing the maids in.

* * *

Over in the kitchen, Gajeel and Pantherlily were looking around for clues, careful not to disturb where Duchess Nicole laid under a white sheet. After giving the air about the kitchen a good few sniffs, Gajeel said, "Well I just caught the sent of someone other than any of us from Fairy Tail, the maids, Tabitha or Nicole."

"Is it a recognizable scent, Gajeel?" Pantherlily asked.

"There'd be no mistaking it if I tried sniffing it out from all of the people here," Gajeel replied, "I think that we should go check everyone here so I can try to identify the person with the scent that I just picked up." As he turned around, Gajeel said, "Oi, Levy! We've got to get-" Gajeel stopped short upon seeing Levy making herself a sandwich. "Umm…Levy, what are you doing?" Gajeel asked as he observed the Solid Script mage making herself a sandwich. Although it is usually considered weird to be making a sandwich in someone else's kitchen while you're at their place of residence, what really caught Gajeel's attention was what kind of sandwich Levy was making for herself. "Did…did you just put sauerkraut in that peanut butter sandwich?" the Iron Dragon Slayer asked in a confused and mildly baffled tone.

"I don't know why, but I've been craving a peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwich," Levy replied before picking up her sandwich and taking a bite out of it. As Levy ate her sandwich, Gajeel and Pantherlily turned to look at each other.

"…For some reason," Gajeel said to his exceed partner, "I can't help but think that this is somehow my fault."

"Let's…just go try to find whoever has that scent you identified," Pantherlily said.

"Right," Gajeel said as he and Pantherlily left the kitchen, with Levy following them as she ate her sandwich.

* * *

After the Fairy Tail mages met up with each other, they went out to where all of the party guests were gather. "Now then," Erza remarked casually as she paced back and forth in front of the guests, "I suppose all of you are wondering why none of you are being allowed to leave the premises of Duchess Nicole's mansion. Well, I can assure you that there is a very good reason for that." Stopping in place, Erza turned around to face the guests, pointed dramatically at the group as a whole and said, "One of you is a murderer!"

The declaration made by Erza got a lot of the guests stalking amongst themselves in something of a panic. "Yes, yes," Erza replied after mostly everyone had calmed down, "My fellow guildmates and I have been investigating the murder of Duchess Nicole, who was found lying dead in the kitchen a short while ago."

"The duchess is dead?!" one guests exclaimed in shock.

"Unfortunately, yes," Erza replied, "But fret not!" Gesturing to Gajeel, Erza explained, "My guildmate Gajeel here, thanks to his incredibly enhanced sense of smell, was able to gather a clue that is crucial to identifying the murderer." Gesturing to the group of guests, Erza said, "Gajeel, if you would."

"Got it, Scarlet," Gajeel replied as he walked up to the group of guests and started sniffing the air about them. Nothing much was done at first, but after a minute or so, Gajeel stopped when he caught the familiar scent of what he found in the kitchen earlier. Gajeel sniffed abut the air that was around where he stopped, slowly walked forward, and after sniffing the air about the guests, Gajeel stopped in front of a relatively young woman who, judging by her skin tone, belonged to some tribe of natives who lived in Fiore prior to the fair-skinned settlers coming.

Jerking a thumb at the young woman he stopped in front of, Gajeel said, "Her scent matches what I found, Scarlet."

Using her requip magic, Erza summoned a sword and pointed it at the native woman in a threatening manner. "Do you have any way to explain yourself?" Erza asked.

"Yeah," the young native woman replied in a defiant tone, "That bitch I murdered imprisoned my older twin brother simply because he and I are minorities! The only reason why I myself wasn't arrested was because I wasn't around when the duchess had my brother arrested on trumped up charges!"

"She…has a point about my late sister," Tabitha remarked sheepishly as she stepped forward, "Nicole was something of a massive racist who hated anyone who was a minority. I always figured that if it were up to me, I'd do away with the racist rules and regulations my sister forced into place in this land that our family managed for generations."

"…Unsettling revelations aside," Erza began as she used her requip magic to return her sword to the pocket dimension she summoned it from, "This woman still has to be brought to justice for having killed Duchess Nicole."

"I'll decide that for myself," Tabitha replied, "As I am now technically the oldest member of ruling family in this area, I have a say in such matters."

With an indifferent shrug, Natsu remarked, "That's good enough for me." After the native woman was taken away by guards summoned by Duchess Tabitha, the party soon dissolved, as there wasn't much of a mood left to party due to the murder that had taken place.

* * *

The following morning at the Fairy Tail guildhall, Gray was sitting at one of the tables in the guildhall with Natsu, Erza and Gajeel, with Happy and Pantherlily sitting next to their respective Dragon Slayers. The Ice Make/Ice Demon Slayer mage was reading the morning paper. "…Huh, well I'll be," Gray remarked causally.

"What is it?" Erza asked before taking a swig from a mug of something she was drinking.

"It says here in this news article that Duchess Tabitha has already begun the process of massive reforms in the area that her family has presided over," Gray remarked, "One of the first things that she's done is release prisoners that were thrown into jail on charges that were confirmed to have been trumped up, as well as issue apologies to those wrongfully imprisoned and awarding them compensation for their troubles."

"Well alright," Natsu remarked, "She sounds like she's going to be one hell of a duchess!" As Natsu and the others were talking, Lucy came walking over with Juvia and Levy. For some reason, Levy seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

"Hey guys," Lucy greeted, "What are you talking about?"

"Something that Gray read in the newspaper about changes that Duchess Tabitha is going to make in the area she governs over," Natsu replied. Seeing the happy look on Levy's face, Natsu remarked, "Hey Levy, did something good happen? You look like something has already made your day."

"Well, do any of you notice anything different about me?" Levy asked as she put her left hand on her waist and her right hand behind her head. Natsu and everyone else at the table was silent for a few seconds, with Natsu, Gray, Erza and Happy wearing looks of confusion while Gajeel and Pantherlily wore looks of worried shock.

"You…did something with your hair?" Erza guessed.

"You lost weight?" Gray asked.

"You got a new dress?" Happy suggested.

"You just read a really good book?" Natsu replied in a questioning tone.

"Well I did recently read a really good book, Natsu, but that's not the reason I'm in a good mood," Levy replied. Gesturing to her upper chest area, Levy said, "When I was getting dressed this morning, I discovered that _these_ are slightly bigger!"

"Oh yes, now I remember," Erza remarked, "You've always had a bit of a confidence issue when it came to your relatively flat bust." Holding her mug up in a toast to Levy, Erza continued, "Good to see that things are looking up for you."

"Thanks," Levy replied, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go lay down. I feel like a little nauseated, and my feet are still bothering me a bit." After the Solid Script mage turned around to walk off to find some place to rest, Lucy and Juvia turned to face everyone sitting at the table.

"Did that newspaper article you were talking about say anything else, Gray-sama?" Juvia asked.

"As a matter of fact, it did," Gray replied as he proceeded to go over what else was in the article, while Lucy and Juvia sat down at the table with everyone else.

END, CHAPTER THREE

Author's notes:

The last chapter of the manga implied that a certain something happened to Levy, even though I didn't pick up on it at first; it wasn't until I recently gave the last chapter another readthrough that I noticed that once scene between Levy and Gajeel. Anywho, sorry if this chapter wasn't as satisfying as either of the last two chapters in this story, but I'm on a bit of a rush here. Hopefully the next chapter of this story will be more satisfactory not just to you, the readers, but to me, the writer, as well.

I have something involving Laxus and the Raijin Tribe planned for chapter four.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter four: Noir Town

The skies overhead was dark and gray. Even darker patches of gray represented clouds that were fit to start raining at any moment. Even so, one could tell that it was still morning, around ten or so. This is what the weather was like this day in Noir Town, a city situated a few miles away from Magnolia Town to the southwest.

A carriage pulled up next to a warehouse in Noir Town. Climbing out of the carriage were Laxus and the Raijin Tribe, a team composed of Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen. Both Freed and Bickslow were dressed in suits that gave them the look of men from the forties, Evergreen was wearing a red sleeveless dress, and Laxus was wearing a trench coat and a fedora. They chose these outfits so as to not stand out while they were on their job.

"So, our job here is to investigate a murder?" Bickslow asked as he and the others all looked up at the warehouse that they stopped outside of.

Nodding once in the affirmative, Laxus replied, "The victim, according to the quest request, is the daughter of the man who owns this warehouse. The warehouse owner also owns a number of other buildings and businesses here in Noir Town."

"So, a member of one of Noir Town's more affluent families was killed," Freed remarked.

With a shrug, Laxus said, "Yeah, pretty much." Gesturing for the Raijin Tribe to follow him, Laxus continued, "Well anyway, we ought to get going. We got a job to do here." Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen all nodding in understanding as they followed Laxus into where the murder took place.

* * *

Inside of the warehouse, Laxus, with a mini notepad and a pencil in hand, was talking to a person who discovered the victim in the warehouse. While Laxus was interviewing him, Freed and Bickslow were investigating the specific area where the victim was found lying on the floor, and Evergreen was taking a look at the victim herself; the remains of the deceased were moved to another area in the factory, so as to not get in the way of the investigation and employees of the warehouse who were just coming in to do their jobs.

"Hmm?" Freed said to himself in a tone of mildly piqued interest. Walking over to where a large crate sat nearby, Freed knelt down and, with a gloved hand, picked up something that caught his attention. Seeing Freed having walked over to check something out, Bickslow went over to where his teammate was looking.

"Did you find something, Freed?" Bickslow asked in a curious tone. Freed nodded once in the affirmative once he stood back up. He showed Bickslow what he had found; an old-fashioned handkerchief that clearly belonged to a man. The handkerchief even had initials embroidered into the one lower corner; G.G.

"…We ought to bring this to Laxus's attention," Freed remarked to his teammate, "This has got to be a clue as to the identity of the murderer."

Over in the warehouse where Laxus was interviewing the person who discovered the body of the warehouse owner's daughter, he was trying to get for info out of the person, who was a male elderly groundskeeper. "Sir, do you remember the approximate time you found the body there in the warehouse?" Laxus asked.

"I…I believe it was a little after ten at night when I found the body of Mr. Harrington's daughter," the groundskeeper remarked, "I saw on a clock that it was ten as I was making my way to this store room so I could do a final check to see if there was anything I had to clean up before I called it a night."

"Alright," Laxus remarked as he wrote down some notes on the notepad he was holding. As Laxus wrote his notes, Freed and Bickslow came walking over.

"Hey Laxus, we found something we think is a clue," Freed said as he showed the handkerchief.

Careful to put a glove on before handling any evidence, Laxus gently took the handkerchief from Freed and gave it a quick look over. "…Excuse me, sir," Laxus said after turning back around to face the groundskeeper, "I don't suppose you know anyone working for that Harrington fellow with the initials of G.G., do you?"

"Hmm…" the groundskeeper said as he held a hand to his chin and gave some thought to Laxus's question, "…I don't know of anyone working for Mr. Harrington with those initials, but I do know that his daughter's fiancé, Gohad Ghame, has those initials."

"Do you know where this Gohad fellow lives, or do you at least know someone who does know where he lives?" Laxus asked.

"I don't know where he lives, but it shouldn't be too hard to find another one of Mr. Harrington's employees that should know," the groundskeeper replied, "Mr. Harrington's daughter came by quite often with that fiancé of hers, and I believe I heard her speak of trying to get her fiancé a job working for her father here at the warehouse on at least two occasions."

"Okay, thanks," Laxus said. After the groundskeeper took his leave, Laxus turned to face Freed and Bickslow. "Boys, we've got a lead to follow," Laxus remarked, "Let's pick up Evergreen first before we go pay this Mr. Ghame person a little visit."

* * *

Laxus and the Raijin Tribe were soon at the residence of Gohad Ghame, an earl to mid-twenties man with fair skin, a slim yet healthy build, and slicked back black hair that reached halfway down his shoulder blades. "What the hell makes you think I'd kill my own fiancé?" Gohad more or less snapped at the four mages. The man was clearly emotionally distraught, but then again that's completely understandable, given that his fiancé was just murdered.

"Easy there, cowboy," Bickslow said, "We're just trying to follow any and all possible leads we have here while we're investigating the murder."

As the Raijin tribe watched Gohad cry, Freed whispered to Evergreen, "Yeah, maybe you shouldn't have started by asking him about his involvement in the murder of his fiancé."

"We're sorry if this is a troubling time for you, but we need to ask you a few questions," Laxus said to the grieving mid-twenties man, "Just standard stuff." After sniffling for a bit, Gohad nodded in understanding, giving Laxus the okay to proceed. "Can you tell my team and I where you were last night between the hours of nine and eleven?"

"I was here at home," Gohad remarked, "I went to bed early last night at around eight because I wanted to be sure I was up early this morning, given that I have a job interview."

"Ah yes," Laxus said, "I was told by someone at your late fiancé's father's warehouse that your fiancé was trying to get you a job there. Might the interview you talk about be for a job at the warehouse?"

"Actually, no," Gohad replied, "I was heading in for an interview at a tavern slash inn that located here in Noir Town."

"Is it _The Secret Midnight_?" Freed asked in a tone of mildly piqued interest, "Because Laxus, Bickslow, Evergreen and I passed that place on our way into town, and it looked like a pretty great place to me."

Nodding twice in the affirmative, Gohad said, "Yeah. That's the place, alright. If you want, you can go talk to the owner to verify that I was set to come in. He said that he'd be at _The Secret Midnight_ all day today, so that he'll be there when I come in for my interview later today." After Laxus got the name of the owner of _The Secret Midnight_ from Gohad, he asked a few more questions before he and the Raijin tribe took their leave.

When all four of them stood outside of Gohad's place of residence, Laxus said, "Alright, you guys. Let's head over and confirm Gohad's story before we tackle the next suspect on the list." The three members of the Raijin Tribe all nodded in agreement with their leader before the four of them took off to go follow a lead.

* * *

After they confirmed that Gohad was indeed set to come in for an interview at _The Secret Midnight_ , Laxus and the Raijin Tribe took their leave to go check out another suspect on the list. This fellow was Gahmel Glutt, who also worked for the man whose daughter was found murdered in the warehouse. Gahmel was fair-skinned and had slicked back light-brown hair that reached the base of his skull. However, unlike Gohad, Gahmel was rather well-fed. In fact, Freed thought that Gahmel could give Droy a run for his money for which one between the two of them was fatter.

"I was at the hospital last night," Gahmel said to Laxus when the latter asked him for his whereabouts the previous evening, "My wife was giving birth to our first daughter, our third child overall. I didn't leave the hospital until two-thirty this morning."

"Oh, congratulations on the birth of your daughter," Freed remarked, "I don't suppose you have a picture of your new daughter you can show us?"

"Freed, now is not the time to gush over pictures of babies, adorable as they may be," Laxus said after turning to face his green-haired second in command. Turning back around to face Gahmel, Laxus asked, "So if my team and I go to the local hospital to verify your story, they'll tell us what you just told us right now, right?"

"I have no doubt," Gahmel replied, "In fact, ask for Susan Willow. She's the nurse who saw me out of the hospital early this morning."

"Alright, then," Laxus replied after he wrote down the name of the nurse to look for. After they were done with Gahmel, Laxus and the Raijin Tribe took their leave.

* * *

Laxus and his team went to the hospital, and they did confirm Gahmel's story. Since the well-fed father of three had a solid alibi, the four mages went to the last person on their list, Gregory Geld. Gregory, according to the info Laxus got before he and the Raijin Tribe went about checking out suspects, was a slim and fair-skinned elderly man in his mid-eighties, getting close to late eighties. Gregory was also balding and his back had a slight hunch, clear signs of the age that Gregory had.

…Unfortunately for Laxus and the Raijin Tribe, by the time they got to Gregory's place, the old man had died. According to one of the medics on scene, Gregory died due to complications of some sort of illness of the kidneys. Luckily for Laxus and the others, Gregory's granddaughter, Gine, was able to provide an account of her late grandfather's whereabouts the previous night. Gine was an early twenties woman with fair skin, a slim yet healthy build, and straight black hair that reached her shoulders. She wore a light-blue long-sleeved dress, the bottom of which ended about half-way down her thighs, cream-colored stockings that disappeared into the bottom of her dress, a pair of light-brown slip-on shoes, and around her neck a necklace with a simple circle charm that had a swirl in it.

"My grandfather started experiencing painful cramps shortly after he came home from work yesterday evening at around six-thirty," Gine said as she tried not to cry, "I brought him some medicine which he took, then he went to his bedroom and stayed there the rest of the night, not even coming out for dinner. When I went in to check on him earlier this morning, I saw that he was…was…" As the young woman proceeded to cry softly, Bickslow walked over to her and laid a gentle, comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry about your loss, miss," Bickslow remarked, "I'm also sorry that we came here with the intent to ask your grandfather about any possible involvement he may have had in a murder while you're still grieving."

"If it helps," Laxus added, "With what you said about your grandfather going to bed at six-thirty the previous evening, along with one of the on-sight medical examiners saying that your grandfather's time of death being roughly eight-forty-two last night, there's no way that he could have been the culprit."

"That…" Gine said as she sniffled a bit, "…That is a relief." After leaving Gine with some info she could use to contact them while they were in town investigating the murder at the warehouse, Laxus and the Raijin Tribe took their leave.

* * *

Seeing as how they were fresh out of suspects, Laxus and his team decided to head back to the warehouse. "We should get a list of everyone working for the victim's father that has the initials of G.G., just to be safe," Bickslow suggested.

"And while we're at it, we should also get a list of everyone whose initials used to be G.G. but changed to something else after marriage due to taking on a spouse's last name," Freed remarked, "The culprit may be trying to throw off investigation efforts by using their previous initials rather than their current ones."

"Good ideas, both of you," Laxus said as he and the Raijin Tribe reached the warehouse where the murder took place. After the four of them made their way into the warehouse, Laxus said after closing the door behind them, "Once we get a fresh list of suspects to-"

"Yeah, I'm going to have to cut you off right there," a voice called out, interrupting Laxus midsentence and prompting him, plus Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen, to all look around to try and find where the voice came from.

"Who's there?" Bickslow demanded, "Show yourself!" A few seconds later, a figure stepped out from behind a stack of large crates. However, Laxus and the Raijin Tribe were all surprised by who it was that stepped out from behind the crates.

It was Gahmel Glutt.

As Gahmel aimed a magic handgun at Laxus and the Raijin Tribe, a few men dressed like mobsters came out from hiding behind some of the crates as well. "Your investigation of my group murdering the warehouse owner's daughter because the warehouse owner refused to pay me protection money is going to have to stop right here and now," Gahmel said.

"Wait a minute," Freed said, "We verified that you were innocent after talking to that nurse at the hospital! How can it really be you?"

"Oh, that," Gahmel remarked in a casual tone, "Yeah, Gahmel Glutt is innocent. He's also dead and lying under a bridge on the outskirts of town." As Laxus and the Raijin Tribe looked shocked upon hearing what the man standing before them was saying, Gahmel took his right hand, reached over to the left side of his neck, and proceeded to tear off his considerable double-chin, revealing it to be a prosthetic this whole time. The man then took off the fat suit that he was wearing, revealing that he was actually rather slim.

"Also, my name is Donald Briggs," said the man who stole Gahmel's identity. As his men proceeded to surround Laxus and the Raijin tribe, Donald said in a tone of assured confidence, "Do any of you four got any last words before the boys here and I silence you and feed your remains to the fishes?"

"Yeah, I got a question for you," Freed asked, "How could you kill an innocent man whose wife was expecting their third-" Freed was cut off when Donald and at least two of his men that were standing next to him turned to stone suddenly. Looking over, Laxus, Freed and Bickslow saw that Evergreen was staring at the men that had just been petrified. She was holding her glasses up so that the lenses wouldn't get in the way of her gaze.

"…Oh yeah, we're mages," Laxus remarked after putting two and two together. To Freed and Bickslow, Laxus said, "Come on, boys! Let's show these mobsters what happens when you try and screw with Fairy Tail!"

"These guys are Fairy Tail mages?!" one of the mobsters said in a worried tone to another mobster that stood on his right, "Oh man, this is bad! Game over, man! Game over!"

…

After about a minute or so, Laxus and the Raijin Tribe defeated and rounded up all of the mobsters. The reason why it took them as long as it did was due to the sheer number of mobsters they had to deal with. Freed also took the liberty of getting some local police to go check out bridges that led out of town; sure enough, the body of the real Gahmel Glutt was found. To the surprise of Laxus and the Raijin Tribe, the real Gahmel was nowhere near as well-fed as what Donald's disguise would suggest. However, no one bothered to check if the disguised Donald was the real Gahmel because Gahmel's wife is a rather big woman; everyone figured that it was normal for two big people to be married to each other.

After they collected their payment, since they did successfully complete their quest, Laxus and the Raijin Tribe decided to head back to Magnolia Town. "Hoo boy, don't we have a story to tell everyone when we get back to Fairy Tail," Bickslow remarked as he and the others all rode in the carriage, "I bet it'll be one of the wildest things they've heard all day!"

* * *

When Laxus and the Raijin Tribe stepped foot into the Fairy Tail guildhall, they saw that the entirety of the main room of the guildhall was flooded with taco sauce. Elfman, Mirajane and Lisanna were all laying on the guildhall stage, on the bar counter and on a table to the left side of the guildhall respectively, clearly passed out.

Natsu was hanging draped over a chandelier hanging over the guildhall's main area, Gajeel was lying passed out on a pool table, Gray was lying face-down on the floor in the middle of the taco sauce flood, Happy and Pantherlily were both floating face down in the taco sauce flood in random areas in the guildhall's main area, and Lucy, Juvia and Levy were all sitting huddled up on the table adjacent to the one that Lisanna was passed out on, surrounded by the half-eaten remains of various foods such as tacos, enchiladas and a few churros.

Additionally, Wakaba was sticking halfway out of the wall on the right hand side (his lower half was visible, meaning that his upper half was actually sticking out of the wall outside), Macao was somehow sticking _out of the ceiling_ on the left hand side (only his lower half was visible), Alzack, Bisca and Asuka were all sitting on the stage opposite of where Elfman laid, Cana was standing behind the bar as she drank her fill of booze (not that Mirajane was in any position to stop her), and Jet was sitting on Droy's considerable belly as the latter was laying on the floor face-up. Various other Fairy Tail members were in somewhat similar situations, but the ones that were stated stood out.

As he and the Raijin Tribe looked at what was going on, Laxus said, "What the hell happened here while we were gone?!"

"Ah, Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, there you guys are," Erza's familiar voice called out, getting Laxus and his team to turn and face Erza. The S-class requip mage of Fairy Tail was wearing her standard outfit and armor. However, Erza was also wearing a sombrero, and over her armor she wore a poncho similar to the one Alzack had been known to sport. Erza's poncho was currently stained with blotches of taco sauce, as well as a few stray bits of shredded cheese. Erza looked as casual as she usually does.

"You guys missed Taco Tuesday," Erza remarked, as if nothing was wrong.

" _This_ is what happens on Taco Tuesday?!" Laxus exclaimed as he gestured to the state the main area of the guildhall was in.

"Well things did go a bit crazier than they usually go," Erza admitted, "But then again, we were celebrating more than we usually do since Alzack and Bisca told everyone that today is Asuka's eighth birthday." Holding a hand to her chin, Erza remarked, "We're still waiting for Wendy and Carla to get back from picking up the cake. I wonder what's taking them so long."

As he and the Raijin Tribe surveyed the state that the main area of the guildhall was in, Laxus said, "Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, in hindsight, I think that it was a good thing that we were out of Magnolia Town doing that job."

As the Raijin Tribe all nodded in agreement with Laxus, over on the stage where Alzack sat with Bisca and Asuka, Alzack said to Bisca, "Why did you think it was a good idea to bring our daughter with us to the guild hall on Taco Tuesday?"

END, CHAPTER FOUR

Author's notes:

…Yeah, if you ever get the chance to visit the Fairy Tail guildhall, make sure you don't go by on Taco Tuesday. Anywho, now that Laxus and the Raijin Tribe had their time in the spot light, I can get to work on brainstorming what to do for the next chapter.

I'm open to ideas.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter five: Investigating a salesman who sounds too good to be true

It was a typical day over at the mage guild Fairy Tail, located in Magnolia Town, Fiore. Some of the guild's member mages, Natsu, Gray, Erza and Gajeel, along with the respective exceed partners of Natsu and Gajeel, Happy and Pantherlily, were all sitting at one of the tables as they all watched fellow Fairy Tail members Jet and Alzack playing against each other at one of the pool tables in the guild hall.

Pointing over to where Jet and Alzack were squaring off against each other, Gajeel said to the others at his table, "Mark my words, guys. Alzack is going to kick Droy's ass."

"Gajeel, that's not Droy, that's Jet," Gray pointed out.

With a mildly surprised and confused look on his face, the Iron Dragon Slayer turned back to look where Jet and Alzack were playing pool. Turning back again to face the others at his table, Gajeel said to Gray, "Are you sure, Fullbuster? Because I could have sworn that the fat one is Jet and the skinny one is Droy."

"Gajeel, you know full well that Jet is the thin one and Droy is the fat one," Natsu began, "Why are you playing du-" Natsu was cut off midsentence when Gajeel interrupted him by letting out a somewhat notable yawn. Normally, the Fire Dragon Slayer would be pissed that he was cut off in such a fashion by his Iron rival, but he stopped short when he noticed that not only was Gajeel's yawn NOT sarcastic, but that after he had yawned, Gajeel had a somewhat tired look on his face. "…Hey Gajeel," Natsu said, a hint of mild concern in his tone, "Are you okay? You look tired."

Similar to his Dragon Slayer partner, Pantherlily also let out a tired-sounding yawn. "Erg, no neither Gajeel nor I are okay," Pantherlily remarked, "We had to rush over to the Magnolia Town mayoral mansion last night at around midnight because Levy had woken up and ran straight to the bathroom to puke her guts out into the toilet."

After letting out a second yawn, Gajeel added, "Shorty threw up two more times after that, and Pantherlily and I stayed with her to keep an eye on her and try to make her feel better for the rest of the night. We're both kind of bushed."

"That explains why you both ordered coffee from the guild bar," Erza remarked in a tone of piqued interest, "I've never seen either of you drink coffee." After she said that bit, Erza had a look of realization on her face. "…Come to think of it," the requip mage continued, "I don't recall ever seeing anyone order coffee at the guild bar. Aside from Lucy and some of the other girls here in Fairy Tail that are friends with Lucy."

"Hey guys," Natsu began to the group as a whole, "I was originally thinking about suggesting that we all go on some kickass quest from the quest board today, but instead I think we ought to take a more laid-back quest so Gajeel and Pantherlily can take it easy."

Both Gajeel and Pantherlily looked at Natsu with mildly surprised looks on their respective faces; they looked about as surprised as they both could manage given how tired both of them currently are. "…Wow, Salamander," Gajeel began, his tone sounding mildly appreciative, "It's not like you to cut me some slack."

With a shrug, Natsu said, "Lucy said that you and I have to start playing nice with each other since she told me Levy's planning to…" With a confused look on his face, Natsu said, "Name me as the godfather. Whatever the hell that means." Gajeel, although he showed signs of being annoyed with what Natsu said, was too tired to raise any objections.

…

After Gajeel and Pantherlily had both perked up enough to function decently enough, they and the rest of their group were over at the quest board, looking for a quest that they could grab. "Hey boys," Erza began as she took a quest posting from the board, "This one here looks pretty promising. 'Investigate weight loss guru making promises too good to be true'. …Huh, there's a four million jewel reward for this one, boys."

Gray leaned to his side slightly to see the quest posting that Erza had taken from the board. "…That big of a reward for a quest of that low a difficulty?" the Ice Make/Ice Demon slayer mage remarked in a questioning, suspicious tone, "Now THAT sounds like it's too good to be true, at least without some sort of catch being involved." Leaning back, Gray turned his attention to Erza and asked, "Are you sure this one's a good idea, Erza?"

"I think so," Erza replied, "If anything, a quest sounding this simple might help get Gajeel's and Pantherlily's engines running."

"Yeah, it sounds like decent exercise," Gajeel remarked, drawing a nod of agreement from Pantherlily, "I say we do it." Similar to Erza, Gajeel and Pantherlily, Natsu and Happy both also agreed to taking on the investigation quest.

Sighing in a resigned tone, Gray said, "Fine, I'm in too. Just don't come crying to me if this quest turns out to have some sort of outlandish quirk later on down the line." And so, with the whole of the party in agreement, the six of them all went out on the quest that Erza picked.

* * *

Another perk to the quest that Erza and the others picked was that it was actually local; there was no need for them to step foot out of Magnolia Town. After meeting with the quest client, a fair-skinned blonde-haired young adult woman who was notably well-fed, the team first went to some sort of agency office that, to the team's surprise, was located about five minutes away from the Fairy Tail guildhall (if you go on foot).

Upon reaching the agency office building, Natsu said, "Okay, does anyone have a game plan?"

"We'll go in to inquire about getting help for a fat friend of ours to help him lose weight," Erza began, "While most of us have the people working here distracted, a single member of the group will investigate the man that the client asked us to investigate, one Reggie Summons."

Gajeel, with a mildly curious look on his face, asked, "We know a fa*yawn*t guy?"

"Wow Gajeel, you must be really tired if you're straight up forgetting about Droy," Happy remarked, "Especially considering that you've actually managed to become close friends with both Jet and Droy."

"Gajeel and I had a tiring night last night, Happy," Pantherlily pointed out, "But that's beside the point. We got us a quest to do." The group all nodded in agreement in unison before they entered the agency office building. The main reception area the group found themselves in looked like a typical waiting room at places such as offices, or maybe a hospital or dentist's office.

There was a square-shaped hole in one of the walls, behind which a secretary was seated at the desk, there were about eight chairs (most of which were made wider than normal to account for the overweight people who come to the place seeking help in losing weight) total in the waiting area, a coffee table with a few magazines spread out on top, a fake plotted plant in the far upper right corner, and a few posters on the walls, all of which were about losing weight, save for one poster that was left over from the mayoral election between Levy and Duke Everlue.

Aside from the secretary seated behind the help window, the group only saw one person, a young adult woman seated in one of the (wider than normal) waiting room chairs. This woman, who looked to be about as old as Natsu and Gray, had fair skin, and blue hair in a short cute cut, but said hair was mostly hidden by a pink beanie hat. This woman also had dark blue eyes, wore thick, nerdy-looking glasses with a pink frame, a pink sweater, pink sweatpants, and white tennis shoes with pink streaks on the outward facing sides. She was also _very_ fat, easily looking like she weighed over four-hundred pounds.

This young adult woman, who was reading a magazine, visibly flinched when she saw Natsu and the others walk on by, holding up the magazine she was reading to conceal her face more. However, none of the group even noticed her, given that they were all focused on completing the quest that they were on. As a group, Natsu and the others all walked over to the reception window and got the secretary's attention.

"Excuse me, but we'd like to see Reggie Summons," Natsu said, getting the secretary, a thin and dowdy-looking early thirties woman with mildly tan-colored skin, to look up from the files that she was looking at.

Seeing Natsu and the other members of the group, the secretary said, "None of you look like you could use help from Mr. Summons." Pointing to Gajeel, the secretary continued, "In fact, you look like you're in very good physical shape, so you might be able to get a job here as one of the weight loss coaches employed by Mr. Summons."

"I'm not looking for a job, and none of us are looking to lose weight," Gajeel began to explain, "You see, my friends and I here are all members of the local mage's guild Fairy Tail. A fellow member of our guild, a guy by the name of Lisanna, is rather overweight. We'd like to ask about getting some help for him."

"Umm, Gajeel," Natsu began, "Lisanna is a girl and she's roughly as thin as Lucy. Droy is the guy that we're trying to get help for."

Gajeel, after letting out another tired-sounding yawn, said, "Sorry, Salamander, but I am having trouble keeping it together for some reason."

"Hang a minute, Sherrill," a male voice called out, getting the group to all turn and see a slender guy walk out into the reception area, "Did these guys just say that they are from Fairy Tail? Why are you keeping them waiting?" When the guy that walked in stopped, the group was able to get a good look at him.

He looked like he was about Wakaba's age, but clearly took good care of himself. He was fair-skinned, had slicked-back, straight dishwater blonde hair, a slim yet healthy build, and he wore a light gray suit that was open in the front, revealing a white dress shirt underneath, a pair of pants matching the suit top, and black dress shoes. He also wore a simple gold band pinky ring on his right pinky, and a metal men's chain bracelet on his left wrist.

To Natsu and the others, the man said, "I assume you all are the mages from out town's local mage's guild?" Holding out a hand to offer a handshake, the man said, "I'm Reggie Summons, weight loss guru extraordinaire."

Flying over to Reggie, Pantherlily flew in place as he accepted Reggie's handshake. "Sup, the name's Pantherlily," the black-furred exceed greeted, "My associates here and I are looking into getting professional help so that our fellow Fairy Tail guildmate Bisca Connell can finally get down to a healthy weight again."

"It's Droy who has to lose weight, Pantherlily," Happy pointed out.

"Well I'm sorry that both Gajeel and I keep dropping the ball due to how little sleep we got the previous night!" Pantherlily snapped at the blue-furred exceed.

After Natsu and Gajeel got their respective exceed partners to calm down, Erza turned to face Reggie. "Look, Mr. Summons," Erza began, "My friends here and I have heard a lot of people in Magnolia Town go on about what you've accomplished when it comes to helping others who are overweight get down to a healthy weight. We were simply wondering if you or someone under your employ here had the time to help Asuka-F***! I mean Droy!" Turning to face Gajeel and Pantherlily, the requip mage said, "Great! Now the two of you have got me doing it!"

"Well I still know that it's Droy," Natsu remarked to his team. Turning to face Reggie, the Fire Dragon Slayer said, "So would your agency here be able to help Droy?"

"I would be more than happy to take on your friend's case personally," Reggie remarked, "I'll just need to ask a few questions about your friend…Droy, was it?" After a confirming nod from Natsu, Reggie said with a hint more confidence in his tone, "Yes, I'll want to get a few things about Droy written down first before we can proceed."

Holding up a hand, Gray said, "Before we start, I don't suppose that there's a bathroom here that I can use, is there? Because I really have to bleed the lizard."

"Oh, just go down the hallway that I came out of and look for the third door on your left," Reggie replied, helpfully pointing the way for Gray. Nodding once in thanks, the Ice Make/Ice Demon Slayer mage took his leave to go to the bathroom, leaving the rest of his team to go over things with the weight loss guru.

* * *

While the rest of his team was standing around out in the reception area occupying Reggie Summons, Gray was NOT actually using the bathroom. He was actually carrying out the part of his team's quest that involved looking around to find evidence confirming the quest client's suspicions that Reggie is not who he seems to be, that his outlandish promises really are too good to be true.

Opening one of the doors, Gray peeked into the room it led into, and saw that it was actually just a storage closet for the janitorial staff at the agency building. Quietly closing the door, Gray then went about checking all of the other doors as quickly and quietly as he could manage. After he checked all of the doors in the hallway and got bupkis, Gray breathed a mildly annoyed sigh. "Well this is just fan-tucking-fastic," the Ice Make/Ice Demon Slayer mage remarked to himself as he stood at the far end of the hallway opposite of where he entered, which was a fork that had two ways, one going left and one going right. "Not one of the doors that I checked had anything inside that would-"

Gray was cut off when someone tried to rush him from behind from the right-hand path, but Gray heard him coming just in time to turn around and meet his would-be attacker head on. This man, dressed in a manner suggesting that he worked at the agency, was clearly not a mage, not that Gray needed to cast any spells to fight him, as he dealt a swift kick to the agent's hidden treasure, dealing him a critical hit.

As the first agent crumpled to the floor, covering his wounded holy land with his hands, Gray saw two more agency employees come running up from the same direction the first one had come from. "Ice Make Fishnet!" Gray exclaimed as he cast a spell at the two oncoming agents, creating an icy wind from his hands that took on the shape of a net. This icy wind-net flew at the agents, colliding into them and knocking them over.

After the other two agents had been defeated, Gray looked all around to make sure if any more agents would come out of the woodwork to attack him. Initially, Gray didn't see anyone come running after him, so he breathed a sigh of relief. However, when he turned back around to face the direction he was initially facing, Gray was smacked in the face by the head of a shovel, knocking him out cold.

…

"Huu…" Gray moaned as he started to come to, "Wuu…where the hell am I?" Upon getting enough of a look at his surroundings, the Ice Make/Ice Demon Slayer mage shot more and more awake at a faster pace. He was in a very large, dungeon-like room, his wrists and ankles strapped down to a torture board that was on the wall, with various other torture instruments, such as an iron maiden, in the room.

Looking over to the side, Gray saw a large pushing wheel, to which a number of people had been chained to and forced to endlessly turn. These people, who were clearly being held as slaves, all looked like they were never given any sort of break, and all of them were very thin, but not in a good way; they were all clearly being starved.

Gray was getting more and more disturbed as he looked around and saw what was going on, but when he heard the commotion of fighting going on, he looked in the appropriate direction and saw Natsu, Gajeel, Erza, Happy and Pantherlily all fighting Reggie Summons, who was now shirtless, two feet taller than Gray remembered, _very_ muscular, his skin was covered with intricate black tribal tattoos, his hair was now at least three feet longer than before and flowing in nonexistent wind, and he was levitating and shooting fireballs at will.

"…Okay," Gray began as he spoke aloud and mostly to himself, "I _knew_ that this quest was going to end up having some sort of outlandish quirk later on down the line, but I was NOT expecting something THIS outlandish."

While Natsu, Erza and the Exceed were fighting Reggie's ultimate final form, Gajeel, who looked around at random, spotted Gray and rushed over to him. Breaking his fellow Fairy Tail mage out of his bindings, Gajeel said, "Yo Fullbuster, you okay?"

"The hell is going on here, Gajeel?!" Gray exclaimed.

"As it turned out," the Iron Dragon Slayer began, "The secret to Reggie helping people lose weight is to chain them to that Wheel of Woe in the dungeon here, having them push said wheel so that it generates magic energy that Reggie uses to power himself up so that he can use that final form that he whipped out against me, Pantherlily, Salamander, Salamander's cat and Scarlet." After Gray was standing on his own feet, he and Gajeel looked over to where Natsu and the others were still fighting Reggie.

"…A hell of a lot of good that final form is, though," Gajeel remarked, "At most, only his fireballs would be a threat, but they're neutralized by Salamander who can simply eat them. I'm expecting that we're going to have this one wrapped up before-"

Gajeel was cut off when, over where Natsu and the others were still fighting Reggie, some noise came from the dungeon ceiling above, making everyone stop and look up. When they did, the ceiling above Reggie burst open, showing the fat girl in pink from the reception room falling on through and landing right on top of Reggie. As the dust settled and the fat girl got up off of the weight loss guru who was actually a villain, Gajeel and Gray walked up to the scene.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Erza snapped at the fat girl in pink, "This area is really dangerous for non-mages, given that the man you just landed on top of is using dangerous magic for deeds that are clearly nefarious." Using her sword to point at a door along the wall in the dungeon room, the requip mage said, "I'm going to have to ask that you leave this room and let my friends from Fairy Tail and I handle things here."

"Too dangerous for non-mages, you say?" the fat girl in pink said to Erza in a knowing tone, speaking in a voice that Erza and all of the boys were very much familiar with. With a sudden flourish, the fat girl in pink took off her outfit in a single motion, revealing that she not only was wearing another outfit underneath, but that she was, to the surprise of Erza and the boys, their fellow Fairy Tail mage Juvia Lockser, who had somehow gotten really fat. The outfit she wore was the one she sported shortly after she joined Fairy Tail and shortly before Laxus went nuts.

"Juvia?!" Erza exclaimed out of sheer surprise as she and the boys all looked at their suddenly now fat guild mate, "How the hell did you-"

Erza was cut off when Reggie, who got back up, roared in angry rage as his levitation was slowly starting to work again. Whipping around, Juvia aimed the palms of both of her hands at Reggie and unleashed a very forceful blast of water, striking Reggie point-blank and with such force that he was sent flying into the nearest obstacle, which was the wall behind him. Reggie slammed into the wall with such force that he was knocked out cold.

The team was all distracted by seeing Reggie get sent flying like that, so when they all turned their attention back to Juvia, she was strangely back to being as thin as she usually was. "Oh, now I get it," Gajeel remarked, sounding like he was remembering something, "Juvia was using Water Weight this whole time."

"Water Weight?" Happy said in a mildly confused tone as he and the rest of the group all turned to face the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"It's a spell of Juvia's that lets her absorb water into her body and store it for an indefinite amount of time," Gajeel began to explain, "She can discharge any and all stored water at any time. Juvia usually does this alongside casting her actual water spells, although she can also discharge all of the stored water in a single burst attack, like what we just saw her do. She can also choose to discharge the stored water casually if she no longer wishes to carry it around."

Raising a hand up, Erza asked, "How does that explain Juvia being fat just now?"

"Oh, if I absorb and store more than a set amount of water," Juvia began to explain as she got everyone's attention, "I look like I've gained a certain amount of weight, depending on how much I've gone over the aforementioned set amount. What you guys saw me looking like was me having absorbed and stored as much water as my spell will allow me." Shaking her right hand around to fling off a few droplets of water, Juvia added, "Also, it's handy for when I need to do some undercover investigating, as it's basically an instant disguise."

"Question about your Water Weight spell, Juvia," Gray began, "If you store too much water, do you have the option of being buff as well?"

Juvia, with a curious and mildly worried look on her face, replied, "Would you rather I become buff with my spell instead, Gray-sama?"

"Actually, I'd like it if your spell can make you buff _or_ fat, depending on what you want at the time," Gray explained. The worry in Juvia's expression vanished, but the curiosity remained.

"Oh, I get it," Natsu began as he turned to look at Gray, "You want Juvia to try and perfect her spell so that she can expand her options when trying to take on a disguise!"

"Uhh, yeah, sure," Gray replied, "Let's go with that, Natsu."

With a mildly curious look on her face, Juvia said, "Umm, I've never tried seeing if I can make myself buff using Water Weight before, Gray-sama. But I can train to try and achieve that if you want me to."

"I'm sure you can do it," Gray replied as he and the others went about apprehending the knocked-out Reggie, "You're a Fairy Tail mage, same as the rest of us. Our dictionary literally does not have the word 'impossible' in it."

"It's true," Gajeel remarked, "Shorty found out about that and is aiming to rectify the issue."

* * *

Sometime the following day, Natsu and the rest of his team was relaxing in the main area of the Fairy Tail guild hall. They were talking with a few of their fellow guild mates, those being Jet, Droy, Alzack, Bisca and Cana, telling them all about their quest from the previous day, and how Juvia came in all suddenly and helped save the day with a spell that most of them, as well as most of Fairy Tail as a whole, didn't even know she had.

Droy, with a miserable sulking expression, remarked, "Okay, it is official now. I hate Juvia."

"Oh cut her some slack, Droy," Gajeel said in a casual tone.

"I see that you got a good night's sleep last night, Gajeel," Erza remarked.

As he and the others all turned to face Erza, Pantherlily said, "Oh yeah, Gajeel and I were both able to get a decent night's sleep since Levy was having some sort of overnight thing with Lucy and Juvia. We're both certain that, as girls, Lucy and Juvia can help Levy with whatever-"

Pantherlily was cut off when the front doors of the guildhall burst open, making everyone turn to see Lucy and Juvia running into the guildhall. "Hey, Gajeel!" Lucy cried out, "Juvia and I need to tell you something really important!"

"Well what is it, Blondie?" asked the Iron Dragon Slayer as the two girls finally got up to him. Not speaking out loud, Lucy got up onto her tiptoes to whisper something into Gajeel's ear while Juvia stood by and looked on, a nervous expression on her face. When Lucy was done telling Gajeel what was going on, there was a very shocked look on Gajeel's face. "…Ah crap," Gajeel swore under his breath as he, Lucy and Juvia all ran out of the guild hall, with Pantherlily flying on after his Dragon Slayer partner.

"…The hell has Gajeel and the girls in a tizzy?" Erza asked rhetorically, getting no responses from anyone aside from Alzack, who merely shrugged in a manner to show he didn't know.

END, CHAPTER FIVE

Author's notes:

I get the feeling that this chapter might be a little weaker than some of the past chapters, but it has been a while since I've written chapters for this story. Anywho, that new spell of Juvia's that debuted in this chapter will be playing a role in a couple of future chapters. As well as appearing in a few places here and there, but that's getting off subject. Anywho, next time will be seeing the end result of Gajeel running off with Lucy and Juvia at the end of this chapter, as well as see a Fairy Tail favorite in the spotlight.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Fairy Tail', or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Fairy Tail: Post Game

Chapter six: …Now that is just _precious_

Wendy Marvell, wearing her sleeveless green dress that had the bluish collar, walked into the Fairy Tail guild hall one well enough morning. Following behind the Sky Dragon Slayer was Carla, her exceed partner. "So Carla, what kind of a quest do you want to do today?" Wendy asked as she and Carla proceeded to make their way over to the quest board.

"Seeing as how we have our monthly expenses for this month taken care of already, I figure that something local would be nice to keep us from getting rusty," the white female exceed replied, "But given that that would be among the easiest quests on the board, and the fact that all of the easy quests tend to go-" Carla stopped short when, as her eyes wandered over to the bar area by random chance, she saw something rather odd.

Wendy, curious as to what made her exceed partner stop short, followed Carla's trail of vision and eventually spotted what made Carla take pause. For some odd reason, Gajeel Redfox, the Iron Dragon Slayer and one of Wendy's fellow guild mates in Fairy Tail, was sitting at the bar without his sleeveless coat on, or any sort of shirt for that matter. Additionally, Gajeel was wearing what looked to be a mask of fellow Fairy Tail mage Levy McGarden, and Gajeel had a baby bottle taped to his left pectoral muscle.

Gajeel was also cradling a small bundle of blankets, the upper end of which was lifted up enough so that it was close to the end of the baby bottle that a baby would drink out of. Curious about what her friend and fellow Dragon Slayer was doing, Wendy walked over to where Gajeel was sitting, with Carla following along behind her. "Umm, excuse me, Gajeel," Wendy called out, getting him to look up from what he was doing. Wendy was surprised with how well-done the Levy mask was.

"Can I help you, pipsqueak?" the Iron Dragon Slayer asked, his voice completely clashing with the warm and bubbly expression of the Levy mask that he wore, "I'm a bit busy taking care of Galev here so that Shorty can rest a bit."

"Galev?" Carla remarked in a curious tone before Wendy could say anything, "Who in the blazes is Galev?"

At that prompting, Gajeel got up from the barstool he sat on, walked up to Wendy and Carla, then knelt down on one knee so that Wendy and Carla could look closer at the bundle that he was holding. To their surprise, the white exceed and the Sky Dragon Slayer spotted an adorable baby with somewhat spiky hair the same exact color as the wavy blue hair that Levy has. "Pipsqueak, Snowball," Gajeel said to Wendy and Carla, "This is me and Shorty's son Galev. He was born a few days ago."

"You and Levy had a child together?!" Carla nearly exclaimed as she looked up at the Iron Dragon Slayer with a look of absolute shock, "You got Levy pregnant?!"

"Well doi," Gajeel replied, "Shorty was pregnant. How else would you explain her behavior for the past few months or so such as her eating weird foods and being sick occasionally, and the fact that her bust got slightly bigger?"

With a mildly surprised shrug, Carla said, "I just thought that Levy was just getting really fat due to being in close proximity to Droy for so long!"

Wendy, with a mildly confused look on her face, turned to face her exceed partner. "Umm, Carla, that's not how humans gain weight," the Sky Dragon Slayer remarked, "Or anyone, for that matter." Gently shaking her head, Wendy said, "But that's not the point here." Looking up at Gajeel, Wendy said, "The point is that you and Levy are parents now. Congratulations, Gajeel! I bet that you and Levy must love your new child!"

Gajeel let out a bit of an amused chuckle. "Thanks, pipsqueak," Gajeel remarked, still not bothering to remove his Levy mask, "Let me tell you, Shorty and I have experiences all sorts of things ever since she popped out Galev." Gesturing to his Levy mask, Gajeel said, "I had to make this mask of Shorty's face and tape a baby bottle full of breast milk to one of my pecs whenever Galev has to be fed and Shorty can't do it."

"Well she _did_ recently give birth, Gajeel," Carla pointed out, "So it would make sense if she is still feeling somewhat tired."

"I was actually referring to the fact that Shorty's the mayor of Magnolia Town," Gajeel replied, "But your point makes sense, too." Sighing in a mildly troubled tone, Gajeel said, "You know, me and Pantherlily have to leave on a quest soon with Salamander, Salamander's cat, Fullbuster and Scarlet soon. It's a quest that we're expecting will take us out of not just Magnolia Town, but Fiore as a whole." Looking down at his recently born son, Gajeel continued, "But I'm not so sure if I want to leave Shorty and Galev alone for that long."

The look on Wendy's face could not hide the pride that she was feeling at that moment, the pride in her fellow Dragon Slayer upon seeing him taking fatherhood so seriously. "You don't have too much to worry about, Gajeel," Wendy replied, getting Gajeel to look up from Galev, "Levy has Lucy and Juvia to count on to help her with little Galev here while you're gone on your quest with Natsu and the others. Heck, Carla and I can help them out with the baby too, if you want."

"And as for Levy possibly having to take time off from her mayoral duties since she gave birth," Carla remarked, "I'm certain that Laxus and his crew would be willing to do what they did the last time Levy needed someone to cover for her at City Hall."

"Oh, Laxus and his team are already on it," Gajeel remarked. As Gajeel, Wendy and Carla talked to each other, Laxus and Elfman walked by about twenty feet away or so.

Pointing over to where the Dragon Slayers and Carla were, Laxus turned to face Elfman and said in a sincere tone, "I don't know about you, but if THAT isn't an example of true manliness, then I don't know what is."

Patting Laxus on the shoulder, Elfman said, "Don't worry, Laxus, I agree with you." Looking over to where Gajeel was talking to Wendy and Carla, Elfman continued with equal sincerity, "Gajeel is truly a man among men."

* * *

The following day, Wendy and Carla made their way over to the Magnolia Town mayoral mansion as they were looking to speak with Levy; as the current mayor of Magnolia Town, Levy has number of certain perks that she has access to. It should be noted that Levy is the first mayor in Magnolia Town's history to actually use the mayoral mansion as her primary residence, but that's because it's actually cheaper for her to live there than to pay for rent at Fairy Hills. It helps that the mansion is _much_ bigger than a Fairy Hills apartment.

Wendy and Carla walked up to the front door, where the Sky Dragon Slayer knocked on it a few times. After close to ten seconds, the large double doors opened inward, revealing a somewhat frazzled-looking Lucy Heartfilia standing there. Standing next to Lucy were a similarly frazzled-looking Juvia Lockser and Lisanna Strauss, the latter of which having a stain on the right shoulder area of her blouse that looked like there used to be a bit of baby throw-up there before it was cleaned up.

"I…" Lisanna began as she and the other girls looked down at Wendy and Carla, a hint of strained annoyance in her tone, "…Will _never_ …have kids."

"Are you three okay?" Wendy asked, a look of mildly worried alarm on her face as she looked up at Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna.

Sighing in a mildly resigned tone, Lucy said, "I can't be completely honest if I say yes, Wendy." Gesturing to Juvia and Lisanna, Lucy explained, "The three of us have been helping Levy with her new baby pretty much since she and Gajeel brought him home from the hospital." Letting out an exhausted breath, the Celestial Spirit mage continued, "Levy, the girls and I are all tired, and the four of us are to no end wondering where Gajeel draws so much energy from."

With a look of mild wondering on her face, Lisanna said, "You know, Lucy, now that I think about it, out of Natsu, Gray and Erza when they came over to see the baby, not only was Natsu the only one to not get run ragged, but he was able to keep up with Gajeel when it came to looking after the baby."

"Must be a Dragon Slayer thing," Juvia remarked, drawing nods of agreement out of Lucy and Lisanna. After the nodding was finished, Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna all had surprised looks of realization on their respective faces, at which point they all looked down at Wendy and Carla.

"Wendy, hey!" Lucy began as Juvia and Lisanna stepped out of the mayoral mansion to stand on either side of Wendy and Carla, "You wouldn't happen to have some free time on your hands right now, would you?"

"How would you like to meet the baby?" Lisanna asked, her tone similar to that of Lucy's.

Wendy, as she and Carla were not-so-gently escorted into the mayoral mansion by Juvia and Lisanna, said in a somewhat unsure tone, "Umm, Carla and I already met little Galev at the guild hall yesterday when Gajeel had him there with him."

"Did he let you _hold_ the baby?" Juvia asked, her tone matching up with the ones that Lucy and Lisanna were using, "If not, would you like to come in right now and hold the baby?"

Wendy, who was starting to get worried by the somewhat insisting tones that Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna were using, turned her head to see Lucy close the large double doors of the mayoral mansion, effectively trapping Wendy and Carla inside. Although it was technically true that Wendy would, at some point, like to hold Gajeel and Levy's new baby, the Sky Dragon Slayer could not help but get the feeling that she and Carla were being shanghaied by Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna into helping out with the baby.

* * *

Wendy and Carla were led by the older teen mages to a room in the mayoral mansion that had been converted into a nursery. Inside of the nursery, Wendy saw that it was set up to such a degree that was only possible since Levy, the mother of little Galev, just so happened to be the mayor of Magnolia Town. A high-end crib, in which Galev was currently moving around in, was off to the one corner of the room.

A baby-changing station was along the wall to Wendy's right when she first entered the room, there was a bookshelf, with a few baby books and some plushies made with babies in mind on the shelves, in the corner opposite of the crib, and placed next to the crib was a classic-looking rocking chair, which a person cradling Galev in their arms would sit in as they tried to gently rock the baby to sleep.

The furniture was all made from high-quality wood, and carved/detailed in a manner to suggest that it was supposed to be sold to wealthy clients at exorbitant prices. The dark wooden coloration of the furniture, which gave said furniture a respectable shine, was a sign of how much care and attention the furniture makers put into varnishing the furniture. Looking around the nursery, Wendy could not help but let out a mild but noticeable gasp, a sentiment that was shared by Carla.

"How much did all of this cost Levy and Gajeel?" Carla remarked aloud.

"Other than the crib, which actually had to be taken out of storage and clean slash polished up a bit, all of this furniture was already here at the mayoral mansion," a familiar female voice called out, making Wendy, Carla and the three older teen mages turn around, bringing them all face-to-face with Levy McGarden, their friend and fellow Fairy Tail mage. Levy, true to the fact that she had just very recently become a mother, looked very tired.

Turning to properly face the Solid Script mage, Wendy said, "Oh, there you are, Levy. How have you been doing?"

"I think that it'd be safe to say that I'm slightly more worn out than Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna," Levy replied, "Mostly because out of me and the other three, Galev doesn't act fussy if I'm the one holding him. He starts crying if Lucy, Juvia or Lisanna tries to hold him."

"He also doesn't act fussy if either Gajeel or, strangely enough, Natsu holds him," Juvia added as she looked down at Wendy and Carla, "Gray-sama wanted to try to hold Galev once, but I insisted that he let me handle all of that for him in his place." With a firm look of determination on her face, Juvia remarked, "I have to do as perfectly as I can while I'm helping Levy out with her baby in order to show to Gray-sama that I am great with kids, thus convincing him that it would be a good idea on his part to have kids with me."

Looking back up at Juvia and the other girls, Wendy asked, "So Gray hasn't held Galev yet?"

Levy gently shook her head in the negative, answering the question for Wendy. "Erza also tried to hold Galev," the Solid Script mage remarked, "But he freaked pretty much the moment he was held up against Erza's armored chest. Thinking that being held up against her armor was making Galev uncomfortable, Erza removed it and tried to hold him again, but Galev still freaked out all the same."

"Hmm…" Carla remarked in a hum, considering everything that she and Wendy had learned so far, "…Let me try something." The white exceed then began to glow brightly as she stood before the humans; her form shifted and grew in size, until she eventually stopped and the glowing faded. When all was said and done, Carla had transformed into a human girl that looked to be around the same age as Wendy.

Gesturing to her transformed self, Carla said to Levy, "Would it be okay with you if I were to attempt to hold your son, Levy?" Curious as to what Carla had in mind, Levy simply nodded once in the affirmative, giving the transformed exceed the go ahead to proceed. After nodding once in thanks, Carla walked over to Galev's crib. Leaning over just a bit, Carla reached into the crib, scooped little Galev up, and cradled him in her arms.

Levy and her friends were all waiting for the baby to start acting fussy, but to their collective surprise, Galev was simply laying still as he was cradled in the transformed exceed's arms. He even cooed quietly in a tone that suggested that the baby was comfortable. Carla smiled gently as she looked down at the baby that she held in her arms. "Now then, Levy," Carla said as she turned to face the Solid Script mage, "Would it be okay if I were to hand Galev off to Wendy?"

Still wondering what Carla was trying to get at, Levy made a gesture with her hand to signal that Carla could hand Galev off to Wendy. At that cue, the Sky Dragon Slayer walked up to Carla and, after an exchange that took a few seconds since both girls were trying to be careful, took the baby from Carla. Just as it was when the transformed Carla held him, Galev laid still as Wendy held him in her arms. No fussing or crying or anything.

"…Well I can understand Galev not getting fussy when Wendy holds him," Lucy began as she spoke to her friends while gesturing to Wendy, "Since he doesn't get fussy whenever Gajeel or Natsu holds him. He probably likes being held by Dragon Slayer mages since Gajeel is one and is Galev's dad. But he also likes to be held by Carla in her human form?" Gently shaking her head, the Celestial Spirit mage said, "I'm sorry Levy, but I can't figure out what is going on in your baby's head."

"If I may," Carla began, getting everyone else's attention, "I believe that I may have the answer." With all eyes on her, the transformed exceed said, "First off, I just need to clarify which people Galev get fussy with if they try holding him."

Counting people off of her fingers, Lisanna said, "That would be me, Lucy, Juvia and Erza."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Carla continued, "Now I need to clarify which people Galev does not get fussy with if they try holding him."

"That would be myself," Levy began as she started to list people off of her fingertips, "You, Wendy, Gajeel and Natsu."

Giving Levy and the other older teen mages a sly, knowing look, Carla said, "Tell me, Levy. What do Lucy, Juvia, Lisanna and Erza all have in common? Something all of them have yet is not possessed by either myself in my human form, Wendy, yourself, Natsu or Gajeel?"

Levy, as well as Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna, began to think really hard about the question that the transformed exceed had just posed. It took close to a minute before any of the four older teen mages came up with anything. It was Lisanna.

"Umm…" Lisanna said, a mild hint of embarrassment in her tone, "…Lucy, Juvia, Erza and I all have relatively big busts?" The suggested answer that Lisanna just said drew surprised cries of embarrassment out of Lucy, Juvia and Levy.

Nodding in the affirmative, Carla said, "That's exactly what I was getting at. You see, even with the slight development that she got due to being pregnant, Levy still, with all due respect, has a somewhat flat chest." The Solid Script mage could not help but blush with embarrassment when Carla said that bit out loud. "As for both myself in my human form and Wendy, we are both even smaller than Levy in that area," Carla continued, "I believe that the lack of a well-endowed chest must be a comfort to Galev, since it probably reminds him of his mother."

"Wait a minute," Lucy began, "Both Natsu and Gajeel are men! Neither of them will ever develop breasts like the girls and I!"

Pointing somewhat dramatically to the Celestial Spirit mage, Carla continued, "Exactly. Since men will naturally not have well-endowed chests, being held by a man probably makes Galev think that they are similar to Levy."

"This…" Wendy said, the look on her face and the slight change in her tone both signs that she was feeling flustered, "…This is just like the time we looked after that missing baby that Gray had found. Only instead the baby that's involved this time has…preferences…that are opposite of the baby from last time."

Holding a hand over her chin as she wore a look of consideration on her face, Juvia said, "If that is the case, then I believe that Levy's child would like if it Gray-sama tried to hold him."

Sighing in a tone that was a mix of resigned and tired (but mostly the latter), Lucy turned to face Levy and said, "Well Levy, it seems that Juvia, Lisanna and I can't help with things that involve us holding your son."

Nodding in agreement, Levy said, "There's still plenty that I can use some help with when it comes to taking care of my baby. Can I count on you and the others to help me?" Lucy, Juvia and Lisanna, all three of which had a bit of wind knocked out of their respective sails because of what had been figured out about the baby, cheered up a bit, glad to hear from Levy that she could still use their assistance with little Galev.

Turning to face Wendy and Carla, Levy said, "And I could use the two of you as well, seeing as how Galev doesn't act fussy if either of you two were to hold him."

"You can count on me," Wendy replied to the Solid Script mage. As for Carla, she only gave a simple but affirmative nod, showing that she was behind her Dragon Slayer partner all the way.

"Thanks, girls," Levy said in a sincere tone, "All of you. I'm not sure how I would have been able to handle raising a baby, being a mage and being the mayor of Magnolia Town without you girls helping to lighten my load somewhat." Wendy and the other girls, for their part, simply said that they were glad to help Levy out.

Oh, and there is always the fact that they were helping with a baby. The girls apparently really liked to help out with babies for some odd reason.

* * *

Over the course of the following couple of days, Wendy, Carla and the others were in something of a whirlwind when it came to running things and caring for little Galev. There were struggles here and there, to be sure, and on more than one occasion the girls were visited by Laxus, who was acting as mayor of Magnolia Town while Levy was on maternity leave, because he wanted to run a few things by Levy. On Laxus's first such visit, Levy had him hold Galev because she wanted to test Carla's theory; sure enough, the baby was comfortable being held by Laxus.

However, the experiences over those couple of days kept the girls busy, and to be quite honest, the girls all actually found themselves to be enjoying the days as they passed. After at least one week had passed since Gajeel and the rest of his team had left on their quest, Wendy and the other girls were all hanging out in the Fairy Tail guild hall. The lot of them were all sitting at one of the tables near a pool table. Carla, who had since returned to her regular form, sat on the table surface near where Wendy was sitting in a chair. As for Levy, she was cradling her infant son in her arms.

"So Levy," Lucy began, "You're set to return to work as mayor soon, right? I don't suppose you found anyone to work as a nanny to look after Galev while you're working and if Gajeel ever has to go on a quest, have you?"

Levy, with a bit of an amused smile, remarked, "Actually, you won't believe how many of our guild mates here in Fairy Tail have volunteered to take up the job of helping to look after Galev. I actually have to-"

The Solid Script mage found herself cut off when the doors at the front of the guild hall were thrown open, making Levy and the rest of her friends at the table all turn to see Gajeel enter the guild hall, followed by Natsu, Gray, Erza, Happy and Pantherlily. The two exceed were both flying behind their respective Dragon Slayer partners.

Pumping an armored fist into the air, Erza exclaimed, "Behold! For the boys and I have returned from our quest victorious!"

"How was the quest, you guys?" Wendy called out, getting the returning group's attention. They spotted the Sky Dragon slayer waving them over to the table, so they took the cue and made their way over. Gajeel took a seat right next to Levy, and immediately after sitting down he proceeded to gently tickle little Galev's face with his right index finger.

Scoffing in a mildly annoyed tone, Natsu said, "As it turns out, the woman that we took the quest to look into was secretly running a drug peddling scheme, using her daughter's scouting troop as a cover to sell her drugs to customers in broad daylight."

"The boys, Erza and I also ran into a pair of six-year-old twin girls that also belonged to the same scouting troop but a different team that was not involved in the drug peddling," Gray remarked, his tone showing that he was just as disgusted as Natsu, "Likewise, neither the twin girls nor their twelve-year-old brother who was keeping an eye on them had any idea that the girls' rival in selling cookies was unknowingly helping her mother sell drugs to addicts that lived in the area." Gently shaking his head in a manner that showed disgust, the Ice Make/Ice Demon Slayer mage added while gesturing to the rest of his team, "Luckily, the boys, Erza and I were able to figure out what was going on. We put the kibosh on the woman's drug peddling scheme, got said woman arrested, and pretty much saved the day."

"The twin girls' older brother was even kind enough to help us out with a few things on our quest," Happy remarked, "In fact, it was that boy who discovered the fact that the woman that we were investigating was peddling drugs in that area. Natsu, Gray, Erza, Gajeel, Pantherlily and I were able to save loads of time on our quest thanks to that boy."

"And those little sisters of his were really nice to both me and Happy," Pantherlily remarked, "Petting us and trying to feed us and whatnot. They both kind of reminded me of Alzack and Bisca's daughter, Asuka." With a mildly rattled look on his face, Pantherlily added, "I can't quite say the same about the little girl who saw herself as something a scientist, though. She tried to stick thermometers up me and Happy's respective-"

While Pantherlily was talking, Gajeel gently received Galev from Levy, thus he was currently the one cradling the baby. Galev was cooing softly as his father held him, a clear sign that he was happy and comfortable. "Speaking of kids," the Iron Dragon Slayer remarked, "After we finished up our quest, one of the first things I was looking forward to when we finally got back here to Magnolia Town was to say hello to Galev." Gently tickling Galev's left cheek, Gajeel said, "I'm glad to see that you are doing well, little man."

It was odd, to some degree, to see a man as tall and intimidating-looking as Gajeel fawning over a baby. But more so than being weird, the scene was oddly heartwarming, especially to those who personally know Gajeel. Surprisingly, it was Natsu, who usually had something of a rivalry attitude towards Gajeel, who led a round of cheers at the table to celebrate this moment in the Iron Dragon Slayer's life, the moment where he achieved true manliness.

END, CHAPTER SIX

Author's notes:

I was originally planning to have Gajeel return from a quest to see that his son had been born, but I thought that it would have been somewhat mean to make him miss the birth of his child. Thus, I had Gajeel present for Galev's birth, stay around for a few days, and _then_ go off on a quest. Far be it from me to deny an expecting father the right to see his child born.

Anyway, if any of you are wondering about what Natsu and the rest of his team were up to on their quest, then you can check it out in detail by reading chapters nineteen, twenty and twenty-one of 'One Reason' (sorry that you'll be going in with some spoilers about the plot). As for those of you who came here from 'One Reason' to see what was happening in Magnolia Town while Natsu and the rest of his team were on their quest over in Royal Woods, well I hope that this chapter covered everything.


End file.
